WorldWar: The Balance Destroyed
by AlbertG
Summary: The 'Race', and the Colonials of Cyrannus each tried to conquer Earth. They both failed. The Race has a new colony now. The Colonials haven't finished yet. It's a bad combination all around because everyone's stubborn. Welcome to the galaxy at large.
1. Prelude

_**Worldwar: The Balance Destroyed**_

Author: **Albert Green Jr.**

PG- 13

Summary-Book One: The 'Race' has intentions of conquering Tosev Three otherwise known as Earth. They will conquer it and then colonize it. They believe that the conquest will be easy because after all Earth could never develop much in a mere eight hundred years from wearing furs, riding quadrupeds and using spears to developing flying machines and machine guns. Tosevites, known as Humans could have never developed so quickly. They were wrong. It was bad enough when they attack Earth and discovered a world war in progress in that other universe. In this universe they came a bit later.

And it's enough to make the Race wish that they'd never heard of Tosev Three. On the other hand…

The Colonials have had their butts royally kicked. They are not happy either. Just how does this unhappiness affect everybody?

We shall see.

**NOTICE: THIS STORY MAY BE DISTRIBUTED FREE OF CHARGE BUT MUST NOT BE SOLD OR EXCHANGED FOR FINANCIAL RETURN IN ANY FORM.**

**---------------------COPYRIGHT/DISCLAIMER NOTICE-----------**

**"**_**Stargate", "Stargate SG-1", and "Stargate: Atlantis" **_**and all related**_** Stargate **_** related material, its characters and certain technological devices and/or references to such, from the television shows and movies, may be or are registered trademarks of, and may be or are copyrighted by MGM and whatever Corporation it may or may not be owned by.**

'_**WorldWar'**_** and the '**_**Worldwar**__**related books'**_**, its characters, certain technological devices and/or references to such, from the book series, past present of near future, are a registered trademarks of its creator/author Harry Turtledove and the publisher Del Rey Books. Characters, names, and all related material are trademarks to those stated above.**

**Only certain characters and technologies are mine and these are the creation of the author who is solely responsible for them as such. Neither Studio nor Harry Turtledove nor Del Rey books are responsible for the content of this story.**

_**"Battlestar Galactica, The Re-imagining"**_** by Ronald Moore, its characters, and certain technological devices and/or references to such, from the television show, may be or are registered trademarks of its parent studio and corporation. **

THIS STATEMENT MUST ACCOMPANY THE STORY '_WORLDWAR: THE BALANCE DESTROYED_. IF DISTRIBUTED. THIS STORY IS FREE OF CHARGE AND MAY NOT BE SOLD OR EXCHANGED FOR FINANCIAL RETURN IN ANY FORM. THIS DEDICATION MUST ACCOMPANY ANY DISTRUBUTION OF THIS STORY.

Dedication: Bless my wife and the girls most of whom are now out of my house!!!! They bug me enough top make me hide and write in the basement. At least I can use their cars, now and they buy me stuff!!

Again, thank you, Harry Turtledove for writing such an intriguing series. I can't do it justice but I will merely try to make what I write interesting, with as few editing errors as I can.

And finally, this is an official AU of Ash Boomstick's (Bob Regent) story called R.A.A.B. located on this website. I was given permission to use it as a background. I recommend that you read his story to get a feel of SG-1 and nBSG and the disagreements they have with one another.

'_Be it therefore known to all, that this will be a somewhat darker tongue-in-cheek book than WW: DTB. The rating will be the same so everyone can read it'_

_AlbertG_

_**Prelude**_

_**Caprica: **_

_**Caprica city**_

_**Two years post failed **__**attack on the Thirteenth Tribe:  
**_

It had been raining hard for the last two days and many of the eighty or so reporters and new crews who waited for the senator had been soaked just getting here. He had so wanted to make this announcement outside in the open air but that wouldn't be practical now so the press conference would take place inside, at the Home Court of the Ministry of Justice.

His wife kissed him on the cheek, whispering, "gods of Kobol be with you," as she adjusted his tie for the final time.

He stepped up to the podium and was assaulted by several dozen camera flash units. He lifted up his hands and waited for the whispering to die down. Adjusting his glasses, he began.

"For the united twelve nations of mankind," he began. "That is what we've become. These last three years have been filled with glory and difficulties for the Twelve Colonies of Kobol as we now strive and seek to find our place in the galaxy. During this time, we've discovered that we are no longer alone and that the galaxy is more crowded with life than we first believed. We've witnessed with a sense of satisfaction the destruction of our enemies, the Cylons. No longer are they a constant threat to our people, our children, and our way of life. The annihilation of those machines marked the end of forty years of cold war filled with fear and tribulation. We rejoiced in our victory. But our leaders were too quick to assure our safety. Another threat appeared in the shadows. We discovered that the Thirteenth Tribe wasn't a myth as we believed and we rejoiced but that rejoicing was short-lived. Our first contact with the Thirteenth Tribe showed us that they were not as we were.

"They were revealed to be dangerous barbarians that had rejected their true heritage and their belief in the gods. In love, we confronted them with their heresies and they attacked us and fled. Many brave men and women were lost; however, we learned something that day. Now we know that there are many worlds filled with people and that on many of those worlds Humanity existed as slaves to a race of parasitic aliens called the Goa'uld. The Earth people had fought against them for many years and defeated the aliens that claimed to be gods. But in the process, the Thirteenth tribe became as corrupt and dangerous as the very creatures they were fighting. They became arrogant, ignoring the will of the gods they cheerfully abandoned.

"Understanding the danger that the Earth colony posed to our own people, our leaders set forth a bold mission to liberate the beleaguered colony from its corrupt and morally decadent leadership and guide them back to their rightful places among our family. As with any freedom-loving nation, there was descent. There were those who opposed this reunion. However, the will of the gods prevailed and we sent brave men and women, those who had bled in the Cylon war, upon a glorious and righteous mission to reunite our brethren and punish those who had denied our brothers and sisters their rightful heritage. It was understood by all that if we were to battle against the new Goa'uld System Lords then in order to achieve victory against those that would destroy us, we needed to reunite and become as one. Our brave and noble forces did as they were told. Their faith was strong.

"But the Earthers revealed their hidden truths to us all. In their ignorance, they allowed a Cylon remnant into their star system, perhaps dooming Earth in the process. Rather than embracing their brethren and reuniting Humanity once more, they fought against their Colonial brethren, killing thousands of brave soldiers. Our worlds still mourn because of the senseless losses of that day but our president, claiming that his orders were overridden, denied responsibility. His faith was tested and found wanting.

"'_We'_ have been found wanting. We have lost our sense of whom and what we are.

"No more! We must look in a different direction. We must turn our attention back to what we have forgotten and taken for granted. I propose that we should no longer be called the Twelve Colonies but the Twelve Worlds! It's time for us to step forward claim our place in the galaxy and successfully fight against those who would enslave and destroy us and our way of life. Faith to the gods, duty to the people and taking responsibility to make the hard decisions, that is what is necessary to be a successful leader. I have searched my heart and after much soul searching I have come to a decision. That is why I am announcing that I, Senator Antonius Goesel, have decided to run for President of the twelve Worlds of Kobol."

Smiling brightly, full of confidence and a mouthful of shiny white teeth, yet projecting a look of thoughtful serious, he worked so hard to perfect he stood tall listening to the scores of reporters demanding answers and throwing out questions.

***

Antonius was still wired after the day's events. Dinner had been rushed and his wife was at home resting from the days hectic activities. The last interview of the day was finished and he looked forward to spending a few hours at home before the whole spectacle began again tomorrow.

His secretary James, tapped him on his shoulder. "She wants to see you," he whispered before he could even turn around. "She's in the car waiting."

The urgency in his voice made Antonius pause for a second. Realization struck. _'She's here!' _ Brushing his bodyguards aside he stopped outside into the cold damp air. He covered his shock as he glimpsed the black stretch limo parked in front. It was a Chenbri, one of the most expensive, luxurious air-ground cars ever made. The rear door opened. An invitation. Without hesitation he stepped in.

"Senator Antonius Goesel, please come in," the closer of the two women suggested, "of your own free will."

He entered and sat down on the huge back seat. The door closed and the Chenbri slowly lifted vertically about five hundred feet and began moving south at a leisurely pace. There were two women in the car, the second one being older, one whom he recognized immediately. The first woman, a brunette around twenty had opened a bottle of chilled Ambrosia, the good stuff he noted, and poured it into a tall glass and handed to the older woman. The woman touched it to her lips and passed the glass to him. He took it and sipped. He was right, it was the good stuff and more than that it was an offering that he dared not refuse. In doing so he had accepted an invitation of which he had no idea.

The elder woman smiled. "Senator," she began. "I see you understand traditional offering to the gods."

"I was an altar servant to Athena's temple when I was young," he replied. "I have always respected their ways."

"You know who I am." It wasn't a question.

"Yes," he answered, "High Priestess Livia Sytomia, First Priestess of the Gods. I am honored to be in your presence."

She nodded acknowledging his confirmation. "Did you know that on Earth, males weren't allowed in the temple of Athena. Instead of the goddess of wisdom, she was revered as the goddess of war."

"Strange. How did they corrupt their understanding of the gods so completely?"

"We believe the Thirteenth Tribe was altering their beliefs before they even arrived on Earth. When they reached Earth, monotheists had already infiltrated and corrupted the pure teachings. This is why they are the way they are. They are corrupt and their corruption will spread to the twelve worlds and beyond if they aren't stopped."

"I am only one man," he said. "What can I do?"

"One man can change the course of history with the right resources."

"And you're offering me resources," he stated. She nodded once. "I've just announced that I'm running for the presidency today. Several other people are running and there's no guarantee I'll make it past the primaries."

"If you do what is expected, I'm sure the gods will be very pleased with you," she answered.

"Is that to say that the College is please with my record?"

"We," she stressed, "are more than pleased and I can say that you will have the full weight of the College behind you if you wish it."

"Why would I not wish that?" he asked. "The College of Pontiffs holds the blessing of the gods. Of course, there's always an offering to be paid."

"Yes, there is."

He stared at the woman. "And what is that price?"

"The complete subjugation of Earth."

"Antonius was taken back. "I don't understand. They're no longer a real threat to us. We lost the battle and came home. We have no reason to start another battle to liberate them until we're ready and as of now we-are-not. Opening a dialogue with them is in our best interests. We should be more concerned with the new System Lords gathering power. They're the real threat."

"In that, you are mistaken," she said. "The Earth people don't think as we do." She took the glass from him and drained its contacts – another message. "One hundred twenty ships lost. Eighty Battlestars, almost seven hundred fighters – they couldn't even slow down less than a dozen ships and their fighter escorts. The Earthers don't understand the concept of wars as we do. We considered it a battle that we lost. It has been this way as long as anyone can remember and that prudence has prevented our worlds from destroying each other. The Earther ideas of conflict are different. They have considered that one battle an act of war, one they will pursue when they are able. With their technology to use as they see fit, the entire twelve worlds are threatened. Tell me, what do you know about the battle of Appellai III?"

"Well, our forces tracked the remnant Cylons there to Earth. We aggressively tried to reunite with the Thirteenth Tribe and we lost. We came home. However, you're telling me that it's not over and they're coming."

"Yes, they will come," she affirmed. She lowered her eyes as she spoke now. "What you don't know is that Adar was contacted by the Tau'ri. They offered to allow the survivors return home. After deliberation it was agreed that we would not accept them back. Adar had to be convinced that this was in the best interests of everyone. Because of the seriousness of the Tau'ri hostility against our beliefs, the captives were assumed to have been contaminated with foreign bacteria and viral agents that could have hurt the colonies. We couldn't take the chance that the Earthers would try to destroy us from within. Adar disagreed and now his presidency is in doubt." Slowly her eyes locked onto his. "The contamination of the monotheists' heresies could not be allowed a foothold in the colonies not during this time of uncertainty, not now!" Again she paused as if weight what more she would reveal to him. "There's something else you don't know. During our reclamation of the new worlds, we spoke to a free Jaffa agent."

"You mean interrogation, don't you?" he asked. Inside, he was reeling from the information just given him.

"No, I mean conversation. We're not foolish enough to start hostilities with them yet. His hatred of Tau'ri was very evident according to our sources and he was most talkative when it came to then. According to him, they've destroyed possibly two planets and destroyed a star. They have a mineral that we're trying to obtain called naquada. That's what makes their nuclear weapons so powerful. It took them less than a dozen years to destroy the collective System Lords with little to nothing in terms of support. Does this give you an idea of the dangers they represent and why we must prepare?"

"If those reports can be believed," he said.

"The System Lords are gone," Livia answered defending her arguments. "Nature abhors a vacuum, Senator. The new Lords are establishing themselves and the Tau'ri are becoming stronger everyday. We will be swept aside in the coming war if we don't have the strength to stand our ground and fight."

The senator sat back in his seat continuing to digest this information.

"The Tau'ri weren't impressed by our most powerful ship," Livia said. "Our Warstar meant nothing to them. They've spread across many worlds convincing the Humans populations there that they are the Home world, not Kobol as we all know to be true. I fear for our survival. We will be scattered to the winds unless we can equalize the field of battle." Smiling slightly, she handed him a large envelope. "There is more to the battle than you and the other senators were allowed to know."

Cautiously, he opened the envelope. It was several minutes before he spoke again as he digested everything. "Why weren't we told?! Alien life? Intelligent lizards and these others creatures?"

"Billions of space faring creatures," she said. "Not Human. An Empire of their own. No concept of lightspeed. Think of what we could do with that resource under the right control. Unlike the Cylons, they'll be under our complete control with the right incentives. We've learned from our mistakes. They'll, Senator Goesel, be our edge, Senator; a most powerful one indeed, a knife to stab at the very heart of the Tau'ri and Goa'uld as secure our worlds both physically and spiritually. Will you help your people?"

His eyes narrowed. "If I win the presidency, I will."

"Then congratulations, Mister President." Her adjutant poured another glass of ambrosia and offered it to him. "Another taste?" Livia asked.


	2. Chapter 1

Gespenster Jager: On a last note, what stage are the Tau'ri in? Post the end of the series? (ie all the Asgard Upgrades?) And Atlantis on Earth or?...

_I don't know if you read the first story but. Three days after the battle. Atlantis arrived at earth. That's not even mentioning the Lemurian city ship and what's happening there…_

Satai James: I believe that in the previous story the Race homeworld was left with a single subspace transmitter in the Imperial Palace with which the Emperor could contact the Tau'ri. Also I believe the Emperor had ordered the construction of a planetary defense network. Do those still stand?

_Yes, it does. More on this coming up._

Angelus288: _RAAB is still alive and well. Ash is working on it and is almost finished with the latest chapter. He's been somewhat busy lately. Adama will turn up soon. Livia is a major antagonist and will be seen. No Adria here and no she isn't like her._

David: Good start, I have been looking forward to part II of this story for some time. Especially since RAAB has gone cold. I have two questions I would like to ask. One, will any of the original characters from the BSG be in this story.

_Yes._

Second since Earth now has Cylon organic technology, could they use it to grow there own Baseship and convert it into a deep space station, this would be extremely useful in fighting the System lords. Change the design a little, add shields, energy weapons (maybe drones?) and its long arms could be used to house ultra long range sub-space sensors .

_They are learning about the technology but have the schematics not the ship. And like Wraith technology, it'll take a long time to understand and replicate. Furthermore they may chose not choose to go in that technological direction _

Not only would this be very helpful for Earth, and cheap to build, but it would send "The Twelve Worlds" over the edge.

_How do you know it would be cheap? Are the materials available? Maybe or maybe not. Just because one has the schematics doesn't mean they'll use it or can replicate it or back engineer it in a short period of time. _

_Something they don't have right now…. _

Pcody: _Made the correction_

_Note: This has nothing to do with the Caprica series and it won't if I can help it. Most of you know about my original opinions of the new BSG. 'Nough said.  
_

_**Chapter One**_

_**World of Caprica:**_

_**College of Pontiffs  
One year later  
**_  
The large screen television flickered as cameras cut across a field of hundreds of thousands of people in jubilant celebration. The people's reaction of the election of the new president was captured across the twelve worlds of Kobol. Uncounted millions roared in approval. The majority of the others were not so pleased with the results but it didn't matter. They hadn't voted and those who did hadn't voted in numbers enough to make a difference.

The now former President Adar conceded the election less than twelve hours after the start of the actual voting on the twelve worlds. He hadn't really stood a chance after the Earth debacle. The Colonial military, the Senate, the industrial giants, the people and the religious orders placed the blame solely on him for the Tau'ri fiasco. It was somewhat unfair as he had actively opposed the attempted assimilation of Earth back into the Colonies by force of arms. It was he who had pushed to start a dialogue with the Earthers, but instead, the Senate overruled him. It was the gods' will that they take their place as the Thirteenth tribe of man whether they liked it or not.

Flushed with victory against the Cylons who were all but wiped out, the Earth conflict was deemed by everyone to be a small war, easily winnable, with fantastic rewards. The people honestly believed that Earth's population would welcome them with open arms, being eager to join, once the truth was known. The original colonies of man would finally be joined once more. The military and political powers believed this to be an absolute necessity for the survival of mankind.

The reason was because they were afraid.

There were powers out there in the galaxy, the abominations called the Goa'uld who proclaimed themselves as gods and had held much of the galaxy under their powers. They were powerful, possessed with advanced FTL drives and weaponry to rival anything the Colonials had. It was discovered that the Thirteeners had effectively won their war against the Goa'uld System Lords for the most part – the gods' will against the false gods be done. Apparently, the Thirteeners had come up against them and had prevailed even with their small numbers. The original System Lords were dead and buried having lost to the Tau'ri traitors. No one knew exactly how they had done it but the small colony had prevailed.

That should have been the Twelve Worlds first warning of the danger the rebel colony represented, however it had been ignored by everyone. The Twelve however were outgunned and over their heads if a conflict were to occur and what was desperately needed was the Thirteenth's knowledge of the stargate and their technology to have a fighting chance against the aliens.

***

The College was also furious by the religious attitudes of the Earther people. As the Tau'ri had told them so long ago, there were many worlds out there nurturing Human life. The creatures called the Goa'uld had kidnapped many people from the first world, Kobol – not Earth, Blasphemers! – and transplanted them throughout the galaxy using the stargate device recently rediscovered by the Colonials. Several worlds had been found and liberated but the real key to unlimited travel throughout the gate system had eluded them. The Tau'ri did it all of the time because they had gate addresses data to spare while the Colonials had only uncovered a total of six. But that had been enough make them realize the potentials of unimagined rewards and extreme dangers out there. No gates had been found on the twelve worlds nor on rediscovered Kobol but there was evidence that there had been one on the First World long ago and for one reason or another had been taken by the so-called System Lords. The old Lords were no more; however there were another group of Lords quickly beginning to dominate the vacuum and the treat was becoming exponential as they gained power.

Eight years earlier, the Colonials discovered a Cylon plan to commit genocide against them. Through a series of military actions they all but wiped the Cylons out, thereby removing that threat. A few Cylons escaped unintentionally finding their way to Earth, the worst and best of all possible places. It was deemed a stroke of luck by the Colonials as everything fell into place. Primed, the Colonials planned to destroy their enemies while bringing Earth into the fold in one massive operation.

The resulting firefight caused the Colonials to radically rethink their strategies. All of the Pontiffs and most of the military were angry and humiliated and frightened that the Earthers would retaliate and bomb their worlds, something that didn't happen. But the threat remained on the minds of everyone. In light of the massive defeat the political landscape had changed.

***

"It is done," sighed the very pleased Livia Sytomia, First Priestess of the Gods of Kobol, and defacto head of the College of Pontiffs. Her sigh was one of relief and immense satisfaction. Plans within plans were coming to fruition. She sat at the head of the twelve- sided table, surrounded by the chief priests and priestess of the twelve united worlds of Kobol. The disastrous defeat more than two and a half years ago at the hands of the Thirteenth tribe had spelled the political death sentence for many of the old guard. The thirteen members present in the chamber were by proxy, the real power behind the power now that Adar had lost his second bid for presidency. In his place was Antonius Goesel, the new president of the Twelve Worlds.

He was one of them.

"No longer are will we be called the Twelve Colonies," she proclaimed. The honey-blond with a liberal amount of gray was pleased beyond measure as their first major obstacle had been overcome. "We are now, officially the Twelve Worlds."

"Just means we'll have to change all of our paper work, now," smirked one of the High Priests.

"True. But then, so be it. The other worlds that have been acquired will now carry that name 'Colonial'." She glared at the painting of the former President, one that would soon be taken down and replaced with someone worthy. "Adar's strong opposition to the war damaged us all, and as we all know, this is the true reason why we were defeated. The people know that his lack of faith turned our assured victory into a humiliating defeat. Earth should have been brought into the bosom of Humanity, but instead had prevailed against a force that had crushed the Cylon Empire into dust. The returning survivors were demoralized and frightened by the power displayed by their cousins. But our faithless leaders have been defeated and now our new President will win the victory and once more glorify the name of the gods."

"Apparently Adar and his people had insufficient faith in the gods and therefore the defeat had been pre-ordained," enhanced Bruce Quiton, High Priest of Canceron. "It was Adar who had effectively slowed down the advances in acquiring territory and advancing the will of the gods when the other worlds bearing Human life were discovered."

The first world discovered was inhabited by primitive Humans who barely understood the full implications of fire. They knew nothing of electricity or powered flight, had little medical knowledge to speak of and used swords and spears as their chief weapons. In fact their former masters had encouraged ignorance in order to control them. The Colonial military units that went through the gate were able to subdue them easily. Their false gods were deposed and the teachings of the true gods begun. It had been so easy.

Then the bottom fell out.

The second world was ruled by very minor Goa'uld who still managed to put up a significant fight against the Colonial marines that poured through the gate. The small numbers Jaffa warriors were powerful but ultimately ineffective against the combined might of several battlestars in orbit. The Goa'uld had only a token space force and that was destroyed before they could even begin to defend themselves as they were all planet-side. It was on that world that they discovered the full truth and the implications concerning the Goa'uld and the dangers posed by them. It was also discovered that the Tau'ri were more of a threat than first assumed. Most people on the planet had first believed that the Colonials '_were'_ in fact Tau'ri coming to remove the few remaining System Lords still trying to hold on to power. The world was annexed. Thousands of immigrants from the Twelve Words arrived soon after. A few of the undamaged technologies were discovered and were still being researched. But the deadly lessons of the first battle against the Goa'uld had not been forgotten.

Many of the indigenous people were dying out now as new diseases and displacement from their lands devastated them. This event occurred on several worlds and the Colonials tried their best to inoculate themselves and the locals. It was effective to some degree. Strict measures to prevent contamination among the Twelve Worlds had been maintained to keep it from spreading there.

"As you continue to say every time we meet," uttered Scorpia's High Priest. He threw up his hands in supplication before a long-standing argument could start once more. "I'm not suggesting that it isn't important. But we've won. Let us move on to more important matters."

"President Goesel agrees with us," Livia said trying her best to keep her face straight, "and it's the gods will that we pacify the Thirteeners and bring them back into the fold."

The High Priestess of Leonis stood up. "That won't happen until we can balance the equation against the technology of the Tau'ri," Yarinna spat. "It'll take years before we can safely deal with them. And in that time they'll get stronger and stronger. They'll come after us with their heresies and infect the people with their lies." There were several nods in agreement seen around the table. "Earth isn't the first world, Kobol is!" she hissed. "But the Earth people have no understanding of this truth and because of that billions of souls need to be saved before another generation is lost. This blasphemy must end sooner rather than later! The will of the gods and the truth of their origins must be made clear to all. Only then can we be rejoined as one."

"There's no need to preach to us, Yarinna," announced Livia. She resisted tacking on the word 'again'. "We are in agreement, however some must be lost in the short term so that others can be saved. That is why our new president will strive to do what is right. His faith is unquestioned, his dedication to our cause unrivaled. He's already pushed for more effective ships and better defenses and he's increased the budget for the study of alien technologies as well as more funding for those who wish to enter a closer relationship to the gods. What we need now is time."

"Fortunately we have some time," the Aquarion High Priest said. "The Astaroth System Lords are making life difficult for the Tau'ri."

"Our reports say they are on the other side of the galaxy. They shouldn't be an immediate threat."

"True, but they are different from what we know about the other System Lords. For one, they work together and are gathering their forces slowly. They are accumulating and solidify territory before they'll eventually go to war against the Tau'ri. The Tau'ri…"

"That name is blasphemy," Roger Stremus, the High Priest of Sagittaron spat. "This assembly should call them by the designated name, the Apellai. They have no right to call themselves by any other name than what they are. They were the last to flee Kobol, the refuse as it were. Whether it was two thousand or a hundred thousand years ago, they still answer to the rightful gods and laws of Kobol. They have no right to call themselves anything else but what they are and we must remember that so that they can remember when the time comes."

"I agree. As I was saying, the Apellai are locked by the necks contesting against the Astaroths. If the Apellai do nothing then the Astaroths will take over and conquer the Human worlds not strong enough to resist their might. They've been forced to become the policemen of the galaxy and they take their jobs seriously."

"The gods are indeed with us. This gives us the opportunity to consolidate our powers and understand the tech we've acquired," Livia said. Several pieces of alien technology had been acquired and Colonial scientists were hard at work for the past five years trying to understand it, desperately trying to play catch up. "Let them bleed themselves dry and when they're done we'll step in and save them in the name of the true gods."

"As along as the Thirteenth colony doesn't lose their struggle," cautioned Yarinna.

"Yes. We don't want that. The alternative would be unthinkable."

"The Apellai need to bleed," agreed Iblison High Priest of Scorpia. "Blood is required for them to see the error of their ways. To their credit though, they are maintaining a balance for the rest of us even if they are heathens. But they are one world, divided at that and their resources are stretched protecting other Human worlds and their own holdings. Their internal divisions are a weakness and they have forgotten something important, something that I have noticed. We've discussed it before. They're so busy saving others that they've left their back door opened. I refer to the lizard creatures."

"The world where the aliens are," Livia said smiling. "I see where you're going."

"Our military have carefully scouted the systems around Earth and their reports indicate that they are very rich in minerals and materials that we can use. And there is life on several of those worlds, worlds can be colonized with minimal effort; but the Earthers have not exploited them as of yet. Not one of them."

"We know the lizards are intelligent," agreed Roger. "So much so one might think they have souls."

"I wouldn't go that far," Iblison smirked. "But there are fourteen billion of them in that one system alone that can be used to benefit the gods' people. We can use them. They're smart enough to carry weapons and effectively wage war against our enemies. Properly trained, they can go directly against the Goa'uld warriors. None of our people need die and the Astaroth can be kept in the dark until we can properly prepare for them. They can be trained to do menial work deemed too dangerous for people. Asteroid mining comes to mind, all of that radioactivity and such."

"And we can use them against the Apellai-Thirteeners when the time comes."

"But they are sentient beings," the High Priestess of Virgon countered. "They have their own beliefs."

"They believe in their ancestors and ghosts, not true gods," Livia spat. "They have no concept of a higher power because they are unable to conceive of something so complex. That makes them animals no matter how intelligent they are. They have no souls because they have not been created in the image of the gods and I don't mean physically but in their spirits. They have animal spirits not real ones that pass on. But we must caution our leaders not to repeat the mistakes we made with the Cylons. There must be safeguards in place on their world to keep them from rebelling as the Cylons did. Because they are living creatures they can be controlled. They can speak our language – barely, but enough to be understood. I've spoken to the captives as we can now finally communicate with them. I found their adjustment to captivity to be most enlightening."

"How so?" asked Stremus who had not seen any of the lizard captives brought home by the heavily damaged _Heracles. _

"We captured them and by their reasoning, our rule is law. Once captive, they follow the rules of their captors completely," she explained.

"Can they fight?"

"When you look at them you'll immediately see that they are descended from predators, small ones but dangerous intelligent ones. They claim to have an Empire and have conquered two other local worlds and there is some evidence to back that up; therefore I assume that they can fight. The ones captured have never heard of Earth, so I shall assume that they have no ties to them and the Earthers are likely unaware of the creatures. Our military will determine the validity of their claims soon. But more importantly, there has been no hint of rebellion from these aliens. We've discovered that that attitude is ingrained into them. If we liberate their world from their leaders, they'll do anything we command. We will be their superiors in deed and law." She smiled reverently. "They'd die for us. They'll have to."

"If only our people would do the same," mused Iblison. "In the gods' names, of course," he added. "These animals have another value. A growing society must take care of their nutritional requirements. They are after all only animals. It would be a waste not to use what the gods have given us to the best of our advantage."

"When one suffers from famine, one has a tendency to overlook small concerns. The Gemenons are a case in point and the new worlds will need a source of food for themselves that we will be able to supply. All in all, a practical solution," Livia said.

"No, I will not be a party to this proposal," said the Aquinas Howard High Priestess of Aquarion. "High priestess, you go too far. Whether they have souls or not isn't the point here. They are intelligent beings with their own civilization. We shouldn't be discussing their lives in terms of food."

"They're aliens," Iblison said.

"So are the Apellai."

"They're Human, subject to the rules of Kobol and the Twelve Worlds. It's not the same thing."

"I will not condone the use of foodstuffs made from intelligent beings," Aquinas reverently announced. "I will not allow my world to indulge in such flesh."

"Nor will I," echoed Januse of Virgon.

Iblison stood up. "No one is attempting to force this on the people of Virgon and Aquarion or anyone else in this matter. What I am suggesting is that there are a multitude of worlds out there, each harboring Human life. As we bring them out of the darkness into the light of the truth and away from the false gods and the Stygian-based influence of the Apellai they will prosper. As they increase, they will need food. The lizards will supply what is needed just like our cattle and aquatic life, our fields and manufacturing plants. And food will become a concern. It's been by our will that the population have begun increasing in numbers. More children are being born now than in the previous fifty years. It was by your suggestion, Januse, that we start this program and you were correct in your arguments. If the twelve worlds are to survive the Goa'uld, we need an explosion of young people, strong and courageous and willing to spread to the new worlds we'll add. That will require new and cheap food sources."

"It's not right."

"They're animals, aliens," Iblison countered. "Perhaps in another time and place these terrible decisions could perhaps be averted. But we must face the reality that's over the horizon. The enemy's at the gates and the Apellai will come for us one day if they win against the Goa'uld. If the Goa'uld win, they will overrun us in our present state. As distasteful as it may be we must us all of the resources that the gods have given us to prevail against our enemies. Spreading to new worlds will insure our survival."

"No. I won't agree to this. There are alternatives that you haven't thought of, with respect to both you and Iblison. These creatures have to have food animals and grain stuffs that we can use instead of them."

She heard enough and needed to stop this before it got out of hand. "We can't let our emotions rule us during these times," Livia said, effectively cutting off the growing, heated debate. "The threat of the others is real and I will not fall into endless debate over the lives of animals. I will not stand before the Great Judgment trying to explain why we didn't use what the gods had freely given us." She paused for a moment. "Humanity comes first even if some have to be sacrificed along the way. We know these things to be true. We've spent a significant portion of our wealth preparing the way. Tens of billions of our own money has been spent to develop weapons that the Race will be able to use when we control them. It's a long-term plan that everyone has agreed to. Let the military have its toys. We know the truth. Its money, not weapons that run the worlds and we have money and influence to spare. This question affects us all. I understand it and we will come together and make our decisions as anointed Priests and Priestess of the gods. We're a democratic body here and everyone has a vote, one which we will abide by. But I propose as a compromise that when we make our opinions known, both sides of them," she quickly added to forestall any renewing of the dissension, "to our new President and when we do so, we strongly suggest that any 'foreign' meat produced will be shunted to the newer colonies. When they are mature enough, they can then decide whether or not to continue consuming the alien meat whether it be lizard animal or feed animal. And we may well suggest that the source of this be kept somewhat secretive, Colonial security and all of that."

There was some grumbling but it was only halfhearted and Livia know that she'd won.

"Now that that's settled, let's not forget who the real enemy is," Iblison cautioned. "We will take their systems quietly under their noses and when the time comes we will strangle them before they know what's hitting them. I can only imagine what the Earthers will think when they're overrun by lizards from another world."

"As advanced as they are, the Apellai mostly primitive," Livia said. She'd been privy to some of the probe data and images months before the attack, long before the Cylons had escaped there. Slowly the Colonial military came to realize that they had only seen what they had been '_allowed'_ to see but still there were large swaths of primitives roaming that planet. How they have found such a beautiful world instead of the Twelve was beyond her. "Aliens attacking their world will destroy their sense of selves, ravage their civilization and weaken their morale, even if the win. Their entire political and economic structure will likely collapse when their false monotheistic believes shatter in the face of war coming to their world. Maybe then, they'll even come to us and we'll be waiting. If not, then we will save what's left and they will come to love us for it. "

"One last thing," Yarinna said. "We assumed that our military forces could have taken Earth easily. We were wrong. Let's not make the same mistake again. The people must be able to maintain their faith during this time of unrest. So let us pray fervently that our military succeeds."

"And doesn't draw attention from Earth in the process," added Iblison.

"Yes, it is agreeable," said, Livia. "Now all we need to do is convince the people."

Iblison smiled. "Let your will be done."

********


	3. Chapter 2

11

_**Chapter Two**_

_**PWX 124 - Home II**_

_**Polar Regions: **_

Cassiopeia Six was at peace, real peace. Three years of the surviving Cylons sharing the planet with the Lizardians or 'the Race' as they preferred to be called, and the Tau'ri of Earth, had proven to be a strangely soothing, if not bizarrely entertaining experience. The Tau'ri branch of Humanity was very much like their cousins in so many ways. But they were so very different. They were somewhat less prejudiced when it came to religion, although in retrospect they had more religious variation than the colonies could have ever conceived of. The ones here on Home II were far more tolerant and opened to different possibilities, which made sense in a way as they were specifically picked for this assignment to establish a relationship with both her people and the Race. That familiarity and difference between the Colonials and the Tau'ri brought a sense of both comfort and distress to most of the surviving Cylons. She still remembered the first few months there had been some tense moments, more from her race's assumptions than anything else. The Cylons had been more than a bit concerned when the other ships of the Race had first arrived. Those transports contained millions of soldiers originally on their way towards their conquest of Earth. It failed spectacularly which turned out to be something that turned out to be in the best interests of everyone. But things had settled down nicely and both sides were getting along relatively well.

To Caprica and the rest of the Cylons, the Tau'ri were so full of contradictions. The technology of the Tau'ri was sometimes primitive yet extremely advanced and their ways of looking at things were certainly different. Furthermore it was a source of continual of amazement at how they struggled so hard to establish a working relationship with the Race and with them. It made her wonder what it would have been like if the Cylons had been a race of lizards. Would Human and Cylon have met in peaceful contact or would there have been a massive thousand year old war or something? Under these conditions, she doubted it. But who really knew? It could have been far worse as Simon had mused once. They should be glad that they weren't Cylon lizards or something…

The woman flopped down on her couch after the last of her guests had left for the evening. It was evening now in the Polar Regions and the sun, which during this time of the year never completely disappeared, now barely peaked above the horizon. The few non hibernating plants were all pointed in its direction, taking what little sunlight they could before the darkness fell which was scheduled to happen in the next week. The sun would disappear and there would be nothing left but stars and moonlight for the next two months. Most of the world was desert however this area was almost forest like with its trees and strange orange-green plants that reached up to fifteen –twenty meters in height. The wild life that called this area home was different here than anything else on the desert planet. They were beautiful and not interested in the Humans or Cylons at all – too alien she suspected. When the sun disappeared, creatures that were never seen during daylight, started appearing. Tonight, both moons were full and combined with the sun it made the entire landscape the Cylons were calling home these days look surreal. It was beautiful. The whole scene demanded to be looked at and enjoyed.

Many were reptilian-like and they mixed well with the growing numbers of wild Zisuili and Azwaca and other species imported from Home. Plants from Home were thriving well, but in hard competition for the same ecological niches against native plants who were putting up hard fights for the same spaces. Both native and alien plants were similar and at this time no one knew which would either survive the invasion or become dominant. The colonists of the Race were helping their own as much as they could. Their philosophy was that Home II would be like Home and they took that mantra literally. It didn't matter if the new world was just as beautiful as their planet of origin, long term plans was to make Home II as much as Home as possible. It didn't matter if it took generations, it was part of the Race's plan and they were sticking to it. Caprica wondered if that was for the best.

The dishes could wait until tomorrow she decided. It was time to write. No projecting, no plotting, no trying to explain to various members of the Race why she wouldn't take her clothes off and paint herself in pretty colors like Sam Cavil had done once. It took him six hours to change his mind after the smirks and insults from his fellow brothers and sisters. Even the people of Earth failed to completely hide their smiles. Only the Race had approved and that wasn't enough. No more trying to blend in with the locals here anymore. He was still smarting about that.

Curled up in a blanket, she pulled out her pen and journal. Smiling, something she was doing more and more, she began to write.

***

'_Was it that long ago that Doctor Jackson had suggested that I keep a journal of my adventures for myself as a form of therapy? I will admit that it's been the best thing that's happened to me in a long time. At first, I thought he was kidding and during those first days, as I look back on them, I can understand why. I hated Humans and what they had did to me and my people. It didn't matter that these people were not Colonials; I just placed them all in one column and hated them all. To me, they were nothing more than animals.__Every time I saw one, I flashed-back to Caprica and what they did to me there. They call us machines but now more and more I am wondering exactly what we really are. How could a machine hate as much as I did? Daniel and the others said we were more clone than machine; that we were real people and it didn't matter if we were synthetic or natural. Several of the Cavils scoffed at that notion but most of us survivors are beginning to wonder if what he said has a touch of the truth. Whatever we are, we're getting better. We are becoming. _

_Oh, God, that sounded so melodramatic!_

_As for me, I don't hate them as much anymore, but sometimes at night the fear comes and I find myself writing in my journal to find solace._

_Oh, I have to write about the dinner tonight!_

***

She stopped a moment to get her bearings. The antics at dinner were simply too good not to write about and she wanted to include as much as possible. Really there was nothing special that she needed to record but she was in the habit now and it was comforting. Tonight she decided she would simply write down what was on her mind. She always had the best time when she did that. But first, on a whim, she decided to reread what she'd place in her diary almost two years ago, now. It was always good to remember where she was during those times and far she'd come since then.

She opened her diary, curled the covers around here and started reading. The seventh month caught her attention and she picked up from there:

_***_

_There was a time that I wished the Colonials could have just killed me instead of subjecting me to the treatment that I received. And yes I know we did the same thing to Humans but being on the receiving end of such torture has changed me forever. I never want to do that to another living creature again. I remember being in the cell curled up in a ball trying to hide from what they were doing to me with my ability to project. It was the only place I felt safe. _

_They hurt me. I told them everything I knew and they used me to kill my people. Then they killed me. I resurrected but my mind was damaged. It was so bad that some of the others thought about putting me out of my misery but by then we had fled to Earth._

_Things are better now. I've talked to these people. I've shared with them. I don't hate these Humans and I don't panic when a man brushes up against me as I used to do. I still feel frightened, but it's getting better each day. One of the Tau'ri Human psychologists has talked to me and with my brothers and sisters and it has helped tremendously. Dr. Brenda Hessler is a nice woman, very good at what she does and talking to her has allowed me explore my feelings and come to grips with my emotional damage, to help overcome the anger instead of allowing it to destroy me from within. It's hard but it's working. _

_There's even a Human man who has taken an interest in me. He's gentle, patient, and kind and despite my protests I am beginning to feel very relaxed around him. He doesn't treat me like an alien or a machine, just me. When I asked him about that he just shrugged and said he'd been around aliens and machines both good and bad. He just takes them as they are as long as they do the same with him. It's a unique attitude that I am not used to coming from Humans._

_Of course, the Tau'ri here are hand-picked for this mission and represents the best of their people so I should expect this of him. But I like to think that there are more like him than not and that feels me with hope that we might be able to co-exist peacefully. It may well work for us but there is that nagging fear of the Colonials discovering us and finishing what they started. I mentioned this to Simon once and he said if it was God's will then it would happen no matter where we went. On the other hand he said it might not be. None of us really knows._

_***_

_They're, we call them the Race – like the Tau'ri, we also call them Lizardians in our language, trying to be polite – have finally completed their transition to Home II. The Tau'ri dropped them some distance from their newly claimed planet and let them travel the rest of the way on their own. It gave them time to start reviving their people from cold sleep and to prepare to encounter our people and the Humans for a peaceful first contact. There are forty million in the conquest fleet alone and more will be coming in about fifteen years if the agreement being hammered out by the Fleetlords and the IOA is successful, according to Earth Liaison Theresa White. The Emperor has refused to speak to the Tau'ri directly and because of the political turmoil resulting from their failure to conquer Earth and their witnessing the failed Colonial assault against Earth, they're terrified that the Humans will come and wipe them out or worse conquer them. I heard the Fleetlord of the colonization fleet call them' the dangerous neighbors'. Earth could conquer Home in a few days and they are well aware of this even if many of the fail to see the irony that the came to conquer Earth first. But instead, the Earthers have chosen to initiate peace overtures to the leadership here by way of proxy. It'll take time. The Race is slow and methodical with everything and they make Colonial Gemenon conservatives seem like crazed radicals when it comes to making decisions. That's good for them as they are doing what they'd always done. They are intelligent warm-blooded lizard-like aliens whose culture has existed for tens of thousands their years. _

_The two hundred Humans who make up a permanent base are all experts in their fields. The scientists, cultural experts, linguists, political and sociological experts doing as much as they can to make sure we can create something that will be lasting between us. Already I can speak lizard, or I should be polite and call it the language of the Race (takes too long to say). I can speak English now and Chinese and some Indian also. The Humans have really studied the Race dialect hard and are becoming pretty good, but we both have trouble speaking it correctly. Our mouths can't conform to the pronunciations exactly. It doesn't matter, they understand us and we them well enough without the translators. Now, if only we could understand the little cultural things. That'll take years, I bet and that's being optimistic._

_As for the Race, they were industrious creatures. Civilian and soldier alike have come together to rebuilt their civilization on this planet. The Race's 'soldiers' were a contradiction to their very name. When they had arrived, they promptly gave up their weapons and became colonists doing what they did before they became military. It confused the mess out of everybody until senior shuttle pilot Nignxe explained the reasoning._

"_Soldiers of the Race are trained to be soldiers, but they are primarily members of the Race," he explained. "No current soldier of the Race has killed another sentient being."_

_I surprised by that revelation. "But what about your wars?" I asked._

"_The Race has not had conflict with one another in more than one hundred thousand years. We conquered the Rabotev and the Hallessi with no more than a lose of a hundred soldiers combined. The Race does not need the soldiers because we have no wars. If we need soldiers then the Emperor," and here at the mentioning of his sovereign's title, he lowered his eye turrets in reverence, "orders the soldier's manuals to be read and they are trained." _

_Forty million soldiers, their support personnel, and another one hundred fifty million colonists and no need for soldiers and barely a need for a real police force. Serious crime was almost non-existent, lizards living together in peace. I couldn't understand it and Nigxle couldn't understand why I couldn't. _

"_Why couldn't we live in peace with creators like this?" she had complained to Boomer. "They don't try to kill each other. Why couldn't we do the same?"_

_She had no real answer. So she said to me what Doctor Jackson had said to her about the same subject. _

"_It is not in our nature to do so," Daniel Jackson had told her once. "The Race is peaceful, which is a good thing. I think however, with that comes a price. They haven't advanced as quickly as we and breakthroughs we've made, they haven't come close to matching."_

"_But they don't kill each other," she countered gently. Boomer liked this Human. So do I. He's 'peaceful' to be around. "They don't hurt each other, not like we do." _

"_Yes, there is that," Daniel aid. "However we are the way we are. I'm not saying mankind is all that great, far from it. But there are things that are worse out there and maybe just maybe we're here for a reason. The ancients were powerful, much more advanced. But they weren't as aggressive as we were. If they had been, then maybe the Wraith would have been defeated and untold billions of people wouldn't have been turned into food."_

"_You're saying that somehow God has established a balance in the universe?" asked Boomer._

"_What I'm saying," he was quick to correct, "is that there's more out there than we presently know."_

_I later asked him about those' others' were._

"_You keep mentioning the Wraith, but I've never heard of them. Where are they?" I had asked them once. The way he had spoken about them sent shivers down my spine. It was something we needed to know and maybe even the Colonials, too. I remember thinking about that and that's when I knew that whatever was happening was bigger than all of us. _

"_They're far away," he had mentioned. "And if they could help it," meaning the Tau'ri, "they'd stay that way, along, with the others," he added absently._

_It was all very mysterious, but it's clear that they all hated them and that they must be worse than the Goa'uld. He wouldn't or couldn't say but I saw it in his eyes. Whatever these Wraith were, they were dangerous._

_The Human Tau'ri are fighting them both and there's a hint that there is another enemy they're very concerned with. I'm glad we didn't encounter them or those others. We're safe here but really, for how long? We have zero protection on this planet and the Race isn't interested in putting orbital deterrents in place. Our ships were destroyed during the Colonial's aborted invasion of Earth. We have the knowledge but none of the equipment to make it. The Races technological expertise is somewhat behind ours but despite our entreaties, they have shown little interests in studying and building any of it yet. They are single-minded and the successful implementation of the colony is their priority. The Earth people here are concerned as well. Their patrols have increased somewhat. The Race leadership is aware of it but the others don't even care. It hasn't crossed their minds that there might be real dangers out here beside the Humans. _

_They are so alien sometimes, and that very alienness underscores how different they are from both us and the Humans, whether Colonial or Tau'ri. The average member of the Race is unbelievably parochial. They're so closed-minded that I am worried about the future of co-existing with them. Many of them blame the Fleetlord Atvar for the predicament they are in. It doesn't matter that they have a beautiful world perfect for them and it doesn't matter that no one has died in fighting. What does matter to them is the conquest fleet failed to bring Earth into their empire. Many of them don't believe that Humanity could be more advanced than they are because they consider themselves and their world the center of the universe, the pinnacle of technological evolution. They were told of the battle and even saw evidence and it served to do nothing to change their minds. A few of the leadership are aware that the Earthers are more advanced and quite capable of blowing Home out of the existence. The ex-military knows but the average citizen – I really hate using the word colonists – believes that the Race should continue to try to bring Earth into the Empire. A lot of them don't even know what a Hallessi or Rabotev looks like and some came with the Race here! More than once, I'd had them come to me and ask what am I and I say Cylon and most of them thought that I was Rabotev, which to me by the way, looks like a lizard knockoff with freakish eyes. I mean, do I look like a lizard wannabe? Even I can tell the difference between the three species. But mostly the Lizardians confront us with one question. "What kind of thing are you?"_

_Most ask out of real curiosity however there are many of them that ask us in a manner that is undeniably arrogant. They think as a whole we're barbarians and that we should be subjected to them. From what I understand speaking to the average member of the Race, they assumed that the Earthers would be conquered, absorbed into the Empire and remain so forever. And they assume that it's only a matter of time before this happens despite all evidence to the contrary. The leaders are a different story. They know better and they are terrified of what might happen. Tens of thousands of years of a mindset is working against them and I'm not sure if they'll adjust to the new world order. In some ways their mindset is worse than the Colonials. _

_But there are a few who may adapt as my brothers and sisters are trying to do so. In this, I have hope. The dinner gave me hope today, or destroyed it, not sure which __yet. I do know one thing. _

_Earth Humans are crazy, case in point:_

***

Earlier in the evening her home had been filled with Humans and the smallish lizardians. One of the things that both Tau'ri and Humans agreed upon was that Home II was too hot. The Cylons made their home in the Polar Regions. In contrast the Humans were obligated to live in the very heart of the city being built by the Race. But many of them had separate dwellings in the Polar Regions and during summer time; it was very popular and crowded being a relative term of course. The Home II capital, which the Races call Praffiloss in the process of being modeled after the city of Preffilo on Home, was located near the planet's equator. The Race was consistent and everyone was convinced that by the time they finished, Praffiloss would look almost identical to Preffilo. There, the word 'hot as Hades'' took on a whole new meaning. In the summer time when the temperature reached a dry, balmy 135 degrees. Humans and Cylons either stayed indoors under the protection of heavy duty air conditioners, or moved to a cooler part of the planet. Dr Jackson had said that it 'reminded him of Abydos on a bad day.' The Race thought it was a perfect summer's day.

The dinner this evening had been somewhat of a special occasion. Colonel Carter and Daniel Jackson had dropped off the ambassador to Home II for a brief stay as well as to drop off supplies. Scheduled to stay for three days before heading to their Atlantis colony, he'd always made a habit of visiting the polar region. Where Atlantis was, no one ever said so she and her people were left wondering as to what kind of colony it was. Obviously it was important but they never said what it was, which made sense from a security standpoint.

More importantly though, he always brought small much appreciated gifts from Earth, usually exotic food stuffs that she discovered were very much desired by their people. She and the others were getting used to eating many of the Race standard foods, but the Lizardians had an almost fetish for salted dishes. The fact that the Tau'ri even considered bring supplies from Earth was much appreciated although three of the Cavils usually grumbled that they were handouts designed to corrupt and control her people. But that didn't stop them from trying to steal the chocolates that usually arrived along with their visits. Boomer was one of the worst. Caprica had to literally hide her stuff from that little thief and her sisters. She once told Boomer that, "if you touched my chocolate that I'd kill you and you won't be coming back either!" Since there was no resurrection ship, that threat held more than a grain of truth and it almost slowed Sharon down for a bit. It was almost like an addition and to be truthful, she understood the feeling. The Colonial worlds had chocolate but it was nothing like this. The intensity was incredible making her briefly wondering if the stuff was legal. The candy was bad enough but that chocolate cake…

It was all General O'Neill's fault! He did this to them the first time he visited Home II. It was the General who brought the gifts. It was that first crazy dinner and was now somewhat of a tradition when the ambassador came to visit about every nine months or so. For the Race he had brought something called peanut brittle heavy one the salt, packed in salt. Needless to say, the Race had loved the horrid stuff. It was like eating liquid salt with a bit of flavoring and the members of the Race couldn't get enough of it. For the Humans he brought five hundred pounds of chocolate to 'get them over the hump' whatever that meant. Daniel offered her some and she gingerly tried it.

Now she had to hide her chocolate from the Eights and her own sisters and especially the three Cavils who were demanding that no Cylon should eat anything of this wonderful stuff. They wanted to confiscate all of it. Interestingly enough the three of them had hidden their own stash and refused to give it up claiming that it had to be saved for the purpose of experimentation to determine its effect on Cylons.

No one believed that for a second especially when one of them burped and the essence of chocolate filled the room.

The Race however responded differently. They really didn't like it claiming that it had a rancid-like taste to them. But oh, how they loved that salted candy. Straha called it the food of the Emperors' past. Every time he said it he lowered his eye turrets but that didn't stop him or the others from chewing for an instant. The Tau'ri had also supplied other 'mercy' offerings such as steak, chicken, potatoes, non-salted vegetables and praise God, seasonings other than salt. In other words, Human food – and that was a laugh because it was still alien to the Cylons but they didn't care. Azwaca and Zisuili meat dishes weren't bad like any means but there was only so many things that one could eat. Earth food was a good alternative until the Cylons got sick of it as well. Mixing served everyone well.

One problem that popped up had to be dealt with immediately; a Human snack called ginger snaps a standard ration pack. The Earth people loved them. The Cylons love them. The Race loved them more.

This had caused an immediate problem.

_**Next: Dinner and an informal talk as both Fleetlords, Shiplord Straha and a few other members of the Race, take on O'Neill, Jackson, and ambassador Roberts having an informal discussion on the state of relations with Humanity while the Cylons look on in uncomprehending horror. It will also mark the end of the introduction of the various characters and finally we'll get into the meat of the story.**_


	4. Chapter 3

Sorry about the wait, however real life and work are in control right now. This portion is only a half chapter but since the time is so long between posts I have decided to post this part now. The Race portion is coming up soon. AIB will be out next. Lots of folks to deal with there.

To David: I will describe the houses later but they are simple constructs so far (but not primitive and air-conditioning is state of the art. Sorry, no Tok'ra crystals at this point.

To Shadowwolf93 and HMSDREADNAUGHT1906: Discloser has happened….everything but the stargate. That's kept close to the vest and is even more secure because of the new System Lords and the Lucien alliance problems.

Sithking Zero: Yes, the Race is into paint not clothing as are the Asgard. Sadly they're gone in this RAAB variant.

To Knyght: Sorry, I'll leave the Aschen alone here.

As you will see, not all of the Colonials are unified in this upcoming conflict. Should be interesting as to how they respond to the mess that's about to happen.

To Zerodius: Thank you for your kind comments but I can't take credit for this idea. Ash' Boomstick (Bob Regent) gets credit here and between him and I we're expanding the mythos of RAAB and this AU of it. And again there are different attitudes in the Colonial mindset. Who will prevail…we'll see.

Again thank you for your time and patience. It's been a busy year and my writing has slacked off. But I will continue to trek on.

Skeet/AG

On with the story.

_**Chapter Three**_

_**Warstar **_**Poseidon**_**:**_

_**Aerilon orbit:**_

Admiral Westergyne, commander of the Colonial navy had never been known for his pleasant demeanor. It was due to that unpleasantness that most people preferred to be anywhere else rather than around him, even if he was in a fairly good mood-which was rare. As of this moment he was surrounded by his Colonial military counterparts some of whom had just been elevated to their positions by the President at his sufferance. Corman was already gone. Nagala was being forced into retirement within the next six months. Several generals and admirals, many whom had distinguished themselves in the war against Cylon aggression had been asked to retire by the new President. There were three senior command officers left after the initial purge, Admiral Jameson, General Byants, and Westergyne. The rest were very good, very professional, and very new to the changing political scenes.

For the purposes of security, the briefings finalizing the operation were being held on the _Poseidon_, in orbit around the planet Aerilon. Caprica and Picon were considered by many as being compromised by the Tau'ri. It was suspected that the Earthers had a stealth probe or two near the two main worlds but there had never been confirmed proof until President Hayes of Earth offered his congratulations to the newly elected Goesel. It happened less than an hour after he had been formally won indicating that wherever or whatever the Tau'ri were using was being done in real time. Furthermore it also indicated that they didn't care if the Colonial security knew or not. The Colonial Intelligence service and the Colonial military were not happy. A lot of people lost their jobs that day.

To his credit, Goesel immediately offered to participate in direct talks with Hayes on the condition that the Cylons in Earth territory be returned to their rightful owners and that Earth acknowledges that they are the thirteenth colony. Hayes politely refused an hour later. How he did this and where the stealth probe was, no one had yet found out.

Westergyne was livid. Security in the colonies was all but useless. "This is totally unacceptable," he growled. "Tens of millions of cubits on national security wasted. We can't even trust our own secured communications and that's why we're here! On this ship we're finishing our plans for a war." His eye lit up and he almost laughed. Most of you know that we're going to war but you don't know with whom. Well, you're about to find out. People, our leaders want us to finalize the invasion plan to take over three planets populated by intelligent alien lizards." He waited until the murmurs died down. "That's the easy part. The hard part is that they want us to do this within fifteen light years of Apellai."

"Intelligent lizards?" General Doytor asked. "Sir, we're talking about real alien life forms. How long have we known about them? How advanced are they? What is their weapons capability? And how will the Apellai respond?

"We discovered them a short while after we got our collective butts handed to us by the Apellai," Westergyne said. "They have primitive spaceflight but long-distanced, generational capabilities, no FTL. Their weapons capabilities are insignificant; however anyone with half a brain will realize that they're not the problem. The problem is the Tau'ri. We'll be practically next door to them and we can't beat them. Look around you," he told them. "This ship, all of its defenses, weapons, ECM, man and women, nukes and fighters would last about a minute against one of their warships. I want you all to remember something. We beat the Cylons. We destroyed them, wiped out their defenses, killed their shock troops and chased them across the galaxy. We thought we were invincible. We thought we could handle one small planet. We went there with our Warstars, Battlestars, Vipers and support ships and the best of the best crews filled with men and women dedicated to reunifying the Thirteeners with us. We all know what happened. We thought we knew what we were doing. But it was their show: We named the stakes; they named the game, dealt the cards, and took the first pot cold, leaving us to look like fools."

"More than that, Admiral," said Jameson. "They made us look like incompetent fools. Their weapons technology is superior. I was there when we attacked. We couldn't even touch them, not even with our nukes. They stood there and took it. Why are we trying to instigate a war with them? We lost. They returned the prisoners of war and it's over."

After the fail reunification effort, the Tau'ri had filled Colonial survivors onto a damaged Battlestar and towed them back to the colonies in a trip that lasted less than a day. That was the first shock. The Colonials believed that the FTL that the Earth ships used was underpowered and unable to easily traverse the long distances needed to get to the Colonial systems. The survivors were there weeks before the first survivors of the ground troop assault fleet made it back. Recognized as an Earther ship, the _Ajax_ had been immediately challenged by the Battlestar _Pollux_ and ordered the ship to stand down and be boarded. The captain of the _Ajax_ transmitted a message from the Earther leadership which responded in a message that was summed up as, _'leave us alone or get hurt'_. The _Pollux_ fired on the _Ajax_ and then fired a nuke as the ship tried to leave. The _Ajax_ fired back.

One shot, one kill. The Colonial ships in the area backed off and the _Ajax_ left unmolested. Heads rolled after that incident. But an important point had been made.

"The Tau'ri are a problem but there are other, bigger problems to worry about."

"They may be mote points now. We've received unconfirmed intelligence reports that the Apellai may be planning a preemptive strike against us." His eyes darkened. "At least that's what I've been told," he added. "Never mind the fact that every single probe we've sent to the Apellai's system has been discovered and neutralized and we can't get near the system without being detected. Never mind the fact that we know they have probes in our space that we can't find let alone detect."

"Sir, are you suggesting…?"

"Ours isn't to reason why," he responded, cutting off the question before it could be voiced. "Ours is to do. But I will not sacrifice those under my command. The political climate has changed. The people are clamoring for a victory against Earth. It's a religious fervor out there against the monotheists and right now the Apellai is the target of that fervor."

"They've rebelled against the gods," one of the generals muttered. "They deserve correction."

"Then let the gods deal with them," he snapped. "The reality is that we can't win a war against the Tau'ri by throwing money at them as some people seem to think. It helps. Our budget is greater than it's ever been and I can understand their reasoning. But the last thing we need right now is a war against them and that's what will happen if we're not very careful. The Colonial people can't hide from the galaxy at large much longer. We've been isolated for a long time and that has protected us. We didn't know about them and they either didn't know about us, or more likely they forgot us and that's the only thing that has kept us alive and prosperous. Those times of safety are over. If the Goa'uld had discovered us even ten years earlier they would have destroyed the twelve worlds and there would have been nothing we could have done to stop them. The old ones are gone now, destroyed by the Apellai, the new ones have taken their place. Colonel Thomerson will brief you on this."

The older woman stood up. "If you will break the seals on your packets now please follow as I sum up the information contained within. Our available data on the Goa'uld is sparse, but what we do know is that these parasitic aliens have dominated much of this galaxy for thousands of years. Their technology is advanced, but data indicates that they didn't develop it on their own. They've stolen much of their technology from who we don't know. They have and use energy weapons, have FTL ships that numbered one time in the thousands and they have energy shields similar to the ones the Tau'ri use on their ships. The good news is that most of their leadership, collectively called the System Lords, have either been killed or neutralized. Also to our benefit is that the Jaffa, slave warriors of the Goa'uld, have been freed and have their own nation but it is fractured as they're just beginning to develop their own civilization. They're a threat we'll have to deal with later. The bad news is that with the collapse of the System Lords, a new group of Goa'uld have taken over. They call themselves the Astorath Lords and are somehow connected to another, confirmed dead System Lord called Ba'al. Unlike the previous Goa'uld, this group works together as a single unit. They're ruthless and have been establishing territorial claims at an astonishing rate. However, they are respectful of the Tau'ri for now. So far the Apellai have effectively countered any incursions into this sector of space which includes our territory. However all reports say that they are effectively spread relatively thin, countering Goa'uld threats and protecting planets threatened by them. We're not sure why, however the Goa'uld have not attacked any planet protected by the Tau'ri as of yet. But everything indicates that this is only a matter of time before the wars get hot."

"Which means that the Apellai are the only thing keeping the Goa'uld from attacking us," interrupted the general, "that is, if they know about us and here I will error on the side of paranoia as assume that they do."

"I'd love to be a fly on the wall when those two go at it," muttered Admiral Jameson.

"So would I," said Admiral Westergyne. "They could kill each other off for all I care, but that's the problem. We can't allow the Tau'ri to lose that war or we all die."

"The Goa'uld pattern has always been to destroy any civilization that could possibly threaten their power," continued Thomerson. "They would bomb the colonies, destroy all of our people and the few survivors left would be turned into slaves or worse. With our level of technology we are most certainly a threat, one to be eliminated. We've discovered the basis of their technology, a type of mineral with amazing properties. We're learning about it but we need that mineral in quantity. The power behind it makes Tylium seem trifling by comparison. Tylium is a corrosive dangerous product. We all know that raising the temperatures just a few degrees can make it a tremendous power source of blow us all to the gods. For power generation this mineral is a quantum level above Tylium. It's the same material that the Tau'ri uses to create their super bombs."

"Sir, can we replicate those weapons?"

"Not at this time," was the not-unexpected answer. "Energy weapons are still only in the theoretical stage at this time. We don't have any refined mineral and we're only beginning to understand the properties of the mineral itself and research is proceeding slowly so we don't manage to blow our research division into orbit."

"The Tau'ri have these technologies," said Westergyne. "And they also have intimate knowledge of the Door to Heaven and the thousand others out there and where they're located. We don't. The President and his staff know this. We must also consider another threat called the Lucien Alliance. Little is known about them other than they are a group of gangsters with starships. So far they haven't learned about us or where we're located and we don't want them to yet. Right now we're the little ones on the block and we can't afford to be anymore. We need time to develop our powerbase. We need new resources which brings us back to the lizard species that calls itself the Race –and the Apellai. They may not know it but their surrounding systems are the richest we've ever seen. There's a wealth of minerals, iron, gold, platinum and precious metals, and that's just the start. There's also an abundance of alien life. The Race is an empire. They've conquered two other sentient lizard-like species. They're intelligent and although civilized they're aggressive as they've conquered nearby systems. Why the Tau'ri haven't conquered them isn't understood yet but since they haven't claimed those systems, they can't complain if we do. We're not threatening them in any way and if we do this correctly, we'll be settled at Home and the other two worlds. If we're careful, they may not find out for years and within weeks of our takeover, it'll take nukes to dig us out

"Sir, that's a possibility."

"No. Nukes won't be used against them or them against us. We will not threaten them directly and their laws won't force them to start a war with us, not with the galaxy is watching them. If they come against us, we who have a legitimate claim that will do more damage to them than any war. They've set themselves up as the policemen of the galaxy. Their credibility will be destroyed. The defenses of the Race will be swept aside easily and we will be entrenched. We need soldiers for the coming war. The Race and their worlds will provide those armies and we will ensure that they won't turn against us like the Cylons did. People, if we're to survive the coming storms, we need time. These creatures will help give us that time. The Tau'ri and others will not be able to threaten our lives or our culture with their technologies and ideologies. We must become major players in the game. The Race is a stepping stone to those aims. Our ships are ready. Our forward station is operational. Questions? Now is the time to ask."

_**Three hours later:**_

"Coffee, James?"

"No, I need something stronger than that," Admiral Westergyne answered. There's some sixty-three Ambrosia that I was saving. Daughter gave it to me on my fiftieth. Was going to drink it when I got to Earth."

"Might as well drink it now," Owen Jameson said.

"I'll stick with coffee for the time being," Bryants grumbled. "Even though I should get stinking drunk. Who thought of this debacle?"

"Our illustrious leader and a few people of interests on a holy quest."

"This doesn't go beyond the walls of this room," the general added unnecessarily. Most of the time, the 'quiet room' as dubbed by Admiral Jamison, was understood as a placed of refuge for the officers. Here they could speak without fear of word getting out. "What I want to know is why is it that for our first real contact with a real alien non-human race we have to go conquer 'em?"

Westergyne shook his head. "I'm not disagreeing with you. Political minds of the times. Everybody's either scared or pissed off about one thing or another and like any good politician, or" he sneered, "religious leader, they think that a good war is needed to change our fortune. Personally I would leave the Tau'ri the frack alone and stay away from them as much as possible. But we'll follow the orders of our esteemed leaders and try not to get everybody killed!"

"We should just go and talk to them, get it out in the open find some type of common ground that we can all live with."

"It won't happen, not with Goesel in office. He's got too many heavy backers pushing for this. He's the president and our orders are clear. If I or any of us resigns, he put someone in who will guarantee getting us all butchered like cattle. So the rules of engagement will be strictly maintained. No firing on Tau'ri vessels unless there's absolutely no other option. And if that happens, then we better use everything we've got because that'll be the only chance we'll have."

"I'm surprised that the Earthers didn't know about the lizards sooner. The empire's in their back yard."

"Despite their power and resources, they haven't explored much beyond their gate system. So they don't know what's out there. The problem is we really don't either. The Goa'uld problem is bad enough. But as I said before the Lucien Alliance is worse. I'd trust the Tau'ri before them. They're taking up the vacuum where the Goa'uld have left off. By all accounts, they're gangsters in danger of becoming a multi-system government with Goa'uld firepower. If that's not frightening enough I don't know what is. We're outgunned and out numbered, and until we can get on equal footing any engagement we're destined to lose."

"Perhaps we shouldn't use the words Tau'ri or Earther," Bryants said. "Our president frowns that name."

"Outside of this room I will be politically correct," growled the Admiral. "Inside the confines of this room, I'll use whatever name I want. He and his partners can choke for all I care. I will admit they're right about us needing the extra resources that these animals can provide. If we can train the lizards and whatever those other things are to fight effectively, we can double or even triple our military and resource gathering. They not stupid. They made it to space and have an empire of their own."

"They're smart. But they are another species, not Human and that makes the difference here. I will always go 'human' first. Our survival's at stake here. We can't allow the Tau'ri, Lucien alliance, Goa'uld or anybody else dominate us. But we're technologically behind and need time to make up the difference. I have no problem throwing in a few million lizards into the fire to keep our worlds safe."

"I've read the reports," Bryants said. "But can they can they fight?"

"I think so. They are natural predators, just like us," he said smiling grimly. "Plus there's the fact that they did conquer two worlds. Apparently they have armor and sub-orbital fighters, even anti-missile systems. But they'll have to be trained to fight effectively, so we'll have to start them off as laborers. We've discovered two planets that can support Human life so we'll have to transport several thousand of them there."

"Charles, we're talking about slave labor here, Bryants," Jameson said.

The general nodded. "Yes, but these aren't humans. They're a step above Cylons. At least they're not machines."

"I have a problem with this," Jameson said. He swore softly. "I'm a soldier, not a slave manager. We're worried about what the galaxy at large is saying about the Tau'ri but what about us and our reputation when it comes out?"

"We need the galaxy to respect us, you know that," said Westergyne. That's the first rule. Respect first and then fear so that they won't attack us. If we can throw thirty or forty million soldiers onto the field when we have to, that'll be a start. From everything we've seen, once conquered, the Race will do everything we say because we'll be their conquerors and once conquered, they'll stay conquered forever. That's the way they think, so if we take all three worlds at the same time, we win."

"Colonies?"

"Our reports say none. They have the planets only and a few space stations in orbit around their planets. They're not even on their moons. Their culture hasn't changed in thousands of years. Their technology is for all intents and purposes stagnant. They're peaceful except when they go to conquer their neighbors, they're ruthless when they do so. I can give you an example that we translated from one of the captives. When their conquest fleet attacked the first world, they carried with them what they call explosive metal bombs."

"Nukes?"

"Yep. And they had no qualms about nuking a primitive city filled with aliens that had spears and shields to fight with. They didn't do it but they would have if the situation had called for it. Alien life meant nothing to them outside of their own agenda. Now the shoe's on the other foot."

"Just the type of mentality we need when we go after the Tau'ri or the Lucien Alliance."

"We'll keep them under control with orbital and surface nukes," said Westergyne. "They'll do what we say. The stakes are too high for them not to."

"If the Earthers get involved…"

"If we do our jobs right, they won't." The Admiral glared. "And now gentlemen, you know the reasons why I drink. Let's try not to get everybody killed!"


	5. Chapter 4

15

_**Chapter Four**_

_**Home II/PWX 124:**_

_**Two thousand light years from Tau Ceti**_

As Cassiopeia Six reflected on the conversation only one problem had threatened to destroy her plans for a successful dinner - the herb Earth people called ginger. In the digestive system of the Lizardians it acted as a strong narcotic irresistible to the members of the Race. Ginger snaps were a favorite to Humans and were part of the rations given to all of the Tau'ri. As a whole, the cookie wasn't toxic to the Lizardians however the herb proved to be highly addictive. The ginger snaps and ginger related items including the highly coveted ginger-ale and its stronger cousin ginger-beer were confiscated and secured until it could be destroyed. So severe had the problem been that some of the members of the Race tried to storm the security building. It took the Race's police personnel hours to restore order. That kind of behavior had been unprecedented among that species and the entire affair had threatened relations between the Humans and the Lizardians. No more ginger-in any form. Ambassador Roberts and the Earth government were most adamant about that and it took some work to appease Fleetlords Atvar and Reffet to convince them that this wasn't some subversive Tosevite plot to undermine and subject the Race.

She was adamant. "No discussing ginger at diner," she had demanded. Turning towards that conversation would have ruined everything. Other than that it had gone fairly well, or as well as it could have been expected to do.

_**Earlier:**_

Cassiopeia Six checked herself in the mirror once more to make sure everything was perfect. Every hair was in place every, every bit of skin covered or exposed depending upon where you looked and who was looking back. The music was soft and aimed to please the Humans there. The lizards wouldn't care for it that much so she had made sure that some of their music was represented in the mix as well. Here it took some time to make the right choices, a blend that both species could appreciate and she did get some help from Senior Shuttle pilot Nignxe. Solaria, Caprica, Boomer, and Cavil Two who was going by the name Calvin these days, and Cavil Three were also coming. The name change from Cavil to Calvin came about because of his almost obsessive reading of a particular series of Earth humor. For reasons known only to him, it gave him a perverse sense of amusement. Caprica really didn't care. It made him more tolerable to be around. In fact, it made most of that Cylon series – all eight of them – more tolerable.

The Human guests arrived by shuttle, a smallish oval type of ship they called a puddle jumper. A bizarre little ship, nothing at all like any other ship they'd ever seen and served to represent another example of the unusual technology that the Tau'ri used. It was so advanced and yet in a way so alien further underscoring the strangeness of the Earther Humans.

People piled from the ship. Ambassador Roberts, Doctor Jackson, General O'Neill were the first to emerge followed by Colonel Carter, and one Colonel Cameron Mitchell. A few minutes later a hydrogen fuel powered car pulled up. The Lizardians, specifically Fleetlords Reffet and Atvar stepped out, followed by Senior Psychologist Ttomalss, a Lizardian specialist tasked to understanding Humanity. Shiplords Horrep and Straha arrived in a second car along with Senior Shuttle Pilot Nignxe who had been specifically invited by both Cassiopeia and Caprica. His steadily increasing command of English and Kobollian gave him a strong position in the hierarchy of the Race command structure. Of the members of the Race, he was closest and most opened-minded of conquest fleet and the Sixes and most of the Eights considered him a true friend. The Humans did as well. Nignxe had become a somewhat unofficial intermediary and through him several males and females of the conquest fleet were establishing solid relationships with the Humans. All of them were learning the various Human languages and in turn teaching the Humans their own. It was a small number, not more than twenty so far, but they were trying as compared to the far majority colonization colonists who were so blissfully unaware that some of them still believed in their livers that Home II was actually Tosev III. They knew better, but that small portion of their brains still refused to believe that the conquest fleet could have possibly lost, even with the evidence in front of their eye turrets.

The Humans and Cylons respected Nignxe, giving him something that Ttomalss lacked – credibility. Senior Psychologists Ttomalss was jealous, but not enough that it would affect his work. For the Race, understanding Humanity was paramount and this was his official responsibility, not Nignxe's, but the Senior Shuttlepilot had been thrust into the limelight and the Senior Psychologist was disturbed and in competition with a member of the Race not trained in his field.

Fleetlord Reffet disliked the Senior Shuttle Pilot for having a respect among the Tosevite and the ease in which he learned the alien languages, things that he lacked. The Humans and Cylon Humans – all of them were Tosevites no matter what they called themselves – listened to the Senior Shuttlepilot with more respect than the did the Colonization Fleetlord. That grated on him to no end.

That little fact made Fleetlord Atvar happy as the two Fleetlords had come to hate each other over the years. Atvar was Fleetlord of the conquest fleet that hadn't conquered anything but had won the Race a planet that rivaled Home. Reffet was Fleetlord of colonization fleet and whose authority superceded Atvar's since there were no need for a soldier's time, something that Atvar vehemently disagreed with. Cassiopeia Six was amazed by the open hostility exhibited among the Lizardian leadership represented by Atvar and Reffet. The fact that both of them agreed to come at all in a social setting was somewhat of a minor miracle. With their overall attitudes they acted so, so – Human.

A successful dinner didn't look promising at first. Place settings were a challenge. Atvar and Reffet had to be seated in places of honor but away from each other. Nignxe and Ttomalss had to be seated apart from each other. Shiplord Straha had to be seated near but not too close to the Fleetlords and not to close to Atvar whom he seem to have a not so friendly rivalry with. They weren't enemies exactly but they seemed to enjoy taunting each other lately, and Reffet considered both of them threats to his power as they both agreed with each other far more than that did with Reffet which infuriated the colonization Fleetlord. Organizing seating arrangements gave her such a headache she finally said, _"screw it,"_ an Earther phrase she borrowed from her possible Human boyfriend, and told everybody to sit where they wanted and if they didn't do so promptly she would kick them out of her house and let every member of the Race on the planet know why she'd done so in painful detail. Ambassador Roberts seemed amused by the political bickering more than anything else. She was as well as long as it didn't affect her dinner.

When everyone was seated Cassiopeia stood up and took up her glass of wine. Some members of the Race weren't too fond of wine so she made sure that warmed Vodka was used in place of the chilled white wine she favored for such an occasion. For practical purposes everyone was using the portable translators.

"To the members of the Race, "she started, "the representations of the Humans of Earth and my Cylon sisters and brothers, I welcome you to my home. I must confess that these past three years have been a challenge to me and my fellow brothers and sisters. We had to learn how to associate with my friends from both Earth and Home. It has been a learning experience that has been as frightening as it has been exhilarating. My people's prior dealings with Humans have been tumultuous at best, resulting in a war that threatened mutual annihilation. We Cylons had a plan, unfortunately so did the Colonials and they implemented theirs first and we found ourselves fleeing for our very survival. By a miracle of God we discovered Earth. When we first realized what we had discovered, we were terrified and many of us thought that the Cylon race would be extinguished. For me there was no distinction between the Humans of Earth and the Colonials and I thought they would be the same as our Colonial masters." She smiled, the radiance of it pinning Roberts to his seat. "I'm glad to see that I was wrong. But that was only the first of many surprises in store for my brothers and sisters. We met the Race, an alien species and were stunned again. Never did we expect to have first contact with a completely different species, let alone come to live on the same planet with them. I'm proud to be here among the both of you and it is my wish that we can co-exist peacefully as we have in the recent past since our meeting. To the members of the Race represented here, I say _thank you_ for allowing us to live on your planet with you. And I toast you all. May our futures be bright and peaceful."

"Hear, hear," O'Neill added softly.

Reffet stood up, glass of Vodka in claws. "We thank you for inviting us into your residence. The introduction of your species and the scientific knowledge it has, has been a strange and frightening experience. Having Tosevites and not-Tosevites living on Home II as though they were owners of it, not knowing their true place and not respecting the Emperor, have upset many of the members of the race on Home II. However I am sure that your world will be incorporated into the Empire and you all will complete your journey into becoming civilized beings. Let this gathering be the first of many to come." He sat down, satisfied that honor and truth had been served.

Human and Cylon looked at each other. Calvin struggled not to laugh. The General struggled not to comment. The Ambassador simply sighed.

They had a long way to go.

Fleetlord Atvar stood up. "I too wish to make a toast."

Fleetlord Reffet stifled a hiss.

"I have spoken to Ambassador Christopher Roberts and Ambassador Jonathan Yeager II, liaisons to the Not –Empire of the United States of American and the International Oversight Committee of the Planet Earth on many occasions. I am sorry that Ambassador Yeager was unable to share this time together with us today as his schedule did not permit it. In the name of the Emperor," and here all of the Lizardians lowered their eye turrets, "I too, thank you for inviting us to your residence. It is also my wish that you Tosevites will be incorporated into the Empire. But although I wish it, I do not know if it is the best for us and you Tosevites and not-Tosevite Cylons. You are frightening neighbors but I think we can be good neighbors. Becoming good neighbors with one another will take time and patience. Let us hope we have more in common than in our differences." Finished, he sat.

This time Reffet did hiss in dismay. "Fleetlord, you do not believe that the Tosevites can be integrated into the Empire as the Emperor," here all members of the Race lowered their eye-turrets, "has commanded?" he asked, bringing up a long standing disagreement once more.

"We are strong," Atvar said. "They are stronger. They have the power to bring us into _their_ not-empire. They have chosen not to do so. Instead, we are here having dinner with them as neighbors getting to know one another."

"Therefore you have decided that you will not acknowledge the orders of the Emperor," and eye-turrets lowered once more, "to bring Tosev III into the Empire as you were ordered to?" hissed Reffet.

"Unlike you, the Emperor," the respectful lowering of the eye-turrets happened once more, "is wise in his caution. His concern is for the Empire _and_ the survival of the Race. There is much more out here than we know…" He raised his hands in supplication to forestall any retort from his counterpart. "But now is not a time to discuss politics to the point where we lose our civility." He lowered his eye-turrets at his host, shocking and angering Reffet at the respect given her. "It is the time to enjoy pleasant conversation and dinner with our hosts who has so graciously provided for us."

"On this, I agree, honored Fleetlord," Ambassador Roberts said.

Shiplord Straha was amused by the entire conversation. He was sure the colonization Fleetlord would be upset for the rest of the dinner. But Reffet was correct in his assessment of the Tosevites or Tau'ri as they preferred to be called. They should have been incorporated into the Empire if everything had gone according to plan. But of course, the Great Emperors of the Past who rules over all, apparently had other plans. These creatures were far too advanced and that was frightening to anyone who didn't have a claw up his cloaca – _unlike Reffet_. It would be safer and the Race would have control as they were meant to. But reality had shown that those plans were now impossible and the Race would have to adjust accordingly, something that they didn't do well. The Tosevite world had hatched dangerous, powerful monsters but not vicious ones. Maybe it was possible for the two species to work together. He'd found that O'Neill wasn't that bad of a monster, even if he really was one. As the old proverb said, 'better to have the claws of the predator at your side instead of tearing at your throat'. It was true then, and was certainly true now. The question now was focused on how to tame the monster without it ripping ones throat out. His own personal opinion would have involved hundreds of nukes in a first saturation strike. He hissed softly laughing at himself.

Fantasy wouldn't work here. That scenario was now impossible (always had been) and would have worked only if the Tosevites had been as primitive as they were first observed to be. The Tau'ri were not primitive though and he was smart enough to start looking in other directions no matter how distasteful and uncomfortable it all was. For once he appreciated not being in Atvar's position. Lowering his jaw to laugh softly he stood up and offered a toast. This time Atvar hissed. That gave Straha a thrill.

"May the food and company as I hope the conversation will be, pleasant for all here," he said before taking a deep sip of his drink. Quickly, he sat getting the approval of everyone at the table.

"I hope the food is acceptable to everyone," Cassiopeia said somewhat nervously. "I'm Cylon, not a cook."

"The food is free and I do not have to provide it, so I will make allowances," Straha said pointy looking at General O'Neill as they shared a secret joke. "My only complaint is that it is too cool in your home."

"Please forgive me," the Cylon said in mock embarrassment. "Here free food comes with air-conditioning."

"Then I will live with it," Straha responded. Truth was, he wasn't that uncomfortable but he had to say something before Shiplord Reffet ruined the festive occasion by saying something that the entire Race would have to apologize for.

_**Shuttle Atlantica headed **_

_**Towards Warstar Poseidon**_

_**Pontiff's private cabin:**_

To describe the shuttlecraft _Atlantica_ as a shuttle would be a misnomer. The word yacht or pleasure shuttle would have better described it. Pontiffs traveled in style as befitting their station. There were few amenities that were denied them, because after all they were the personal adjutants of the gods themselves.

In the mirror, there was a wrinkle there on Ibilson's face that he hadn't noticed before. True, he admitted that it gave him a more distinguished look befitting his station. However, that wrinkle represented mortality, the creeping up of age and he had so much to do before the gods claimed him. Checking himself once more, Iblison approved of his of his overall look. The white robes lined in royal blue, and black and gold trimming gave him a regal yet conservative look befitting the senior Pontiff of the high court of Scorpia. He had worked hard to accumulate his power and Livia's support had been invaluable in achieving their mutual aims.

Still the glories of power were tainted by what had happened in their quest to subjugate the Tau'ri. It was a little over three years ago that the CDF had experienced a defeat the likes of which had never been seen let alone imagined by any Colonial. The Apellai's victory had brought the collective Colonial's psyche to its knees and in that time the figurative world of the people had changed. New worlds filled with people unconnected to the Colonies had been discovered. New enemies had been uncovered proving to be a greater shock than the defeat by the much hated Apellai Tau'ri.

One week after the remains of the pursuit fleet limped back to Colonial space, a high level meeting had been called by the former President to discuss the ramifications. Most of the military leadership assumed that the meeting was too focused on the humiliating defeat by the Earth people, but they'd been wrong. Adar had informed them of a first contact situation involving a non-Human but intelligent, space-faring species of lizard. This species although close to Earth territory had not apparently been noticed or contacted by them and Adar saw this as an unprecedented opportunity. Although Commander Jurgan of the _Heracles_ had managed the situation heavy handedly, his proof was undisputed and that brought into focus everything that Daniel Jackson of Earth had tried to explained over six years ago. His fanciful tales were now being seen as cold, hard reality.

As soon as Jurgan's ship had been refitted he and two other squadrons were ordered to several previously unexplored regions. The squadrons consisted of one Battlestar and two Stealthstars. Their mission was to find out and report back data if any on the so-called Goa'uld or Lucian alliance. They were to use extreme stealth and if the mission was compromised, if any ship was threatened with capture, it was deemed expendable. Under no circumstances were they to leave any evidence of the Twelve Colonies or their whereabouts.

Setting out in two different directions suggested by the original discussions with Jackson, a year later, Jurgan returned with uncovered evidence of the Lucian Alliance at the edge of their small but rapidly expanding territories. Existence of the Goa'uld was also confirmed and knowledge of the new and up coming Goa'uld Lords was revealed. The Apellai were just the tip of the iceberg and the Colonials discovered they were completely alone. Adar in the meantime had lost the election. What destroyed his chances was his belief that diplomatic relations with the Apellai were possible which went against the will of the powers that be. Most of the politicians and the religious leadership would have none of that. His chances for re-election were destroyed before they even started.

The High priests and priestess of the favored gods prayed mightily for direction. Instead of hiding, they would become strong and that meant that they would have to subdue the Apellai and anyone else, gain their technologies and grow strong enough to fight against those that would dare to make slaves of the Colonies.

"Not the Goa'uld, not the Lucians, not the Apellai," he hissed. "No one will have dominion over me."

_**Home II/PWX 124:**_

_**Two thousand light years from Tau Ceti**_

"Last time I had this dish on Home, it tasted like it was cooked in liquid salt," General O'Neill said. "I could feel my blood pressure going up every time I took a bite. This is a slight improvement. Not to say that Home cooking is bad, just – salty."

"That's why I didn't add any to the azwaca," Cassiopeia said. "The other seasonings should have cut down on the salty taste."

"It worked," O'Neill said.

"Actually, it kinda reminds me of some of the dishes I had on Abydos."

"Ah, yes. I almost forgot about that."

"Tasted a little like chicken."

"Tasted like tough beef like to me," O'Neill said. "More like buffalo."

"It did?"

"Yep."

"What does buffalo taste like?" asked Boomer. 'Like Earth cattle beef?"

"Mostly. But buffalo is closer in taste to wildebeest than cow, but not as stringy. If that wasn't so stringy then it would remind me of Zebra."

"God, Jack," Daniel muttered.

"I've had Zebra before," he said indignantly, "and I can positively say that Zebra doesn't taste like horse despite what some people may say."

"Okay, General," the ambassador said. "I'll bite, what does Zebra taste like?" his eyes narrowed waiting for the answer.

"Giraffe," he responded not missing a beat. "What's interesting is if you cook giraffe and alligator together, you can't tell the difference and other than the color you could say that the whole blend tastes like chicken."

"This is why I hate going out with him sometimes," lamented Daniel to the ambassador who was struggling mighty to maintain his poker face.

"Sir," Colonel Carter advised. "We might just want to enjoy our dinner our hosts have prepared for us?" There was a note of pleading in her voice.

"Colonel, you're right. I digress. To my gracious host," he continued bowing to Cassiopeia, "bring on the salted pork, I mean, Zisuili."

Several of the Tau'ri snickered. Colonel Sheppard coughed but never said a word.

Calvin looked on confused. "What was that all about?" he whispered to Caprica and Boomer.

"They're Earthers," Caprica said. "I haven't figured them out yet."

"They're insane, but they brought Earth chocolate with them and for that I'll give them some slack."

"Don't try to take mine this time," growled Caprica, "or I will hurt you."

"So will I," added Boomer."

"Okay, okay," submitted Calvin. "I still say it's a drug meant to enslave us."

"Just stay away from it," growled Boomer.

"What is it about females and Earth chocolate?" he wondered whispering to another Cavil.

"Don't ask me," his brother answered. "But don't mess with my chocolate stash either…"

"General O'Neill, what is this food stuff?" asked Straha. "It tastes delicious."

"It's an Earth food called peanut brittle. Its nice and salty and I had it packed in sea salt to give it that extra flavor you all seem to enjoy."

"I am amazed that you Tau'ri are civilized enough to create such a delicacy," retorted Straha. "I admit it is very good." By the way the other Lizardians were eating the modified brittle, they were in obvious agreement. Both Fleetlords had been distracted enough by the salted candy to stop glaring at one another. "The brown desert however is another matter. It is horrible and surely must be an acquired taste."

"Chocolate cake is a delicacy known across Earth. In fact we've used chocolate for trade on certain worlds. "

"Tosev III," Straha corrected.

"On Earth," O'Neill countered, "and as I was saying this is a dessert that loved the world over by Humans."

"Tosevites."

"And apparently Cylons."

"General O'Neill, why don't you simply admit that you are Tosevites? This is a truth you must admit."

"Are you laughing at me?" asked O'Neill.

"Do you think I would amuse myself by insulting you, O'Neill?"

"You're still mad because I had to toss you back through the stargate the second time you used it. That was three years ago."

"Six years."

"Fine, have it your way, six years ago and you landed on your tail stump."

"Please," Roberts intoned. "In the name of peaceful diplomatic relations will you please stop before we go through another round of name calling between you two?"

"Well, okay," grumbled the General. "But he started it."

"I gave you semi-civilized Tosevites a complement."

"Enough, both of you," Roberts demanded. "I should get you two a room."

"WHAT?"

"Calvin and Boomer burst out laughing. Colonel Carter found something interesting on the wall to look at. Colonel Mitchell wisely continued eating his cake.

"I don't understand, O'Neill," Shiplord Straha said.

"Ah, how do you like your cake?" Daniel asked Caprica hoping to deflect O'Neill from saying something…interesting.

"It wonderful," she answered taking another fork full. "There was chocolate on the Twelve Colonies but it was never this intense and flavorful. And the original Cylons weren't great at cooking," she added in understatement. Protein fluid supplements were good for the body but it was horrid. Fortunately, the bio-Cylons hadn't known any better until they had begun their infiltration of the colony worlds. The world of taste had exploded for them, but they were too busy trying to destroy the Colonials to fully appreciate it. That plan obviously hadn't been thought out well enough," she bitterly acknowledged. Even the chocolate bean plants we've found here are no where as intense as yours."

"That's probably because the plant originated from Earth," answered Daniel and was spread across the galaxy by the Goa'uld. It was considered a sacred plant and only they could partake of its fruits so to speak. Obviously some of those plants escaped into the wild and flourished."

Escaped?" a Cavil asked dubiously. His smile was a crooked as he could make it.

"They may have had a little help from the local populations," admitted Daniel. "Secrets have a way of getting out."

"True."

"So Fleetlord Reffet, have you decided to establish a standing military to protect this world?"

"Other than the police force there is no need for a standing military force," Reffet said. "This is a colonist world, not a military expedition."

"I disagree," Atvar said re-igniting a long standing argument. "Our neighbors say that there are other neighbors out there who are as dangerous as they are and have no desires for pleasantries with us. We need to prepare our defenses."

"That's your responsibility, Fleetlord Atvar. But I will not have a permanent soldier's time and the land cruisers and killercraft can be recycled into something that the colonists can use, as was the plan for the start."

"We need to protect the colony."

"Then protect it, under the rules that I have specified, as the Emperor has specified for the establishment of this colony."

"It may be in your interest to make sure that your colony is protected, Fleetlord," Roberts interrupted. "It would be a wise precaution that would protect and possibly save your colony from attack."

"That's Fleetlord Atvar responsibility, one in which he has performed inadequately."

"I am not to blame for this," hissed Atvar. "I have done what was necessary to preserve both the Colony and Conquest fleets. It's not my fault that you nave no idea what to do when things have not gone the way it was expected to."

"Fleetlords if you continue you will ruin this wonderful dinner and set back diplomatic relations for years. I suggest that you delay your arguments for a more appropriate time."

Both Fleetlords turned their eye turrets towards him.

"Wisdom speaks," Atvar said.

"Ambassador Roberts," Reffet stated. "You are of course correct. One could believe that you are almost as civilized as you aliens claim to be."

Thank you. Coming from one that has little ability to think outside his orders that's a real compliment."

Straha just laughed while his fellow Shiplord did his best to remain as inconspicuous as possible.

"Enough," Caprica growled. "Stop acting like children and hatchings!"

"Yeah," affirmed O'Neill. "What she said."

"Senior shuttle pilot Nignxe, how is it that you are able to learn Tosevite, excuse me, Tau'ri and Cylon languages so quickly," Senior Psychologist Ttomalss asked. "Your aptitude test did not show you to have such attributes."

Superior, Sir. I don't know how I am able to do such things, only that I can. I never knew that I could do so in the first place. I am surprised."

"Actually, I think I know the answer, "Colonel Carter said to the two Lizardians. "We've discovered that when we travel through the stargate we developed the ability to speak and understand the language with certain exceptions of any one we come into contact. Senior shuttle pilot Nignxe and all your species who went through the stargate are developing the ability to understand our languages. It's not an instant process as it is with us but with a bit of practice they don't need the translators as you do. Shiplord Straha, Fleetlord Atvar, Nignxe here and the others find it easy to learn Human-based languages quickly and easily."

"So you have explained to me that by simply going though that thing we can learn to speak all Tosevite-based languages."

"Well, that essentially correct."

The senior researcher glared at the Human archeologist. He began laughing so hard that he almost fell out of his seat. "That's the most incredibly humorous way of pulling my tail stump that I've ever heard. Do you know how insane that explanation is?"

"Tell me about it," Daniel mumbled.

_**Warstar **_**Poseidon**_**:**_

"He's fashionably late," Commander Kingston mumbled under his breath

If Admiral Westergyne heard the comment he said nothing. The President's representative '_was'_ late. His security-police force had arrived two days earlier, much to the chagrin of most of the military staff. Pacification of the aliens hadn't even started yet but already some of the SP commanders were issuing orders as if they owned the place. He wasn't going to have it but he needed the High Priest to deal with the situation and he was late – by two days.

The Pontiff shuttle finally docked a half hour later, signaling the end to the wait and the beginning of the mission. The honor guard crisply snapped to attention the instant the shuttle-door began to open. The six men and women lifted their weapons and brought it to their left shoulders as the High priest of Scorpia descended the stairway with the dignity of his station. Behind him were his two aides. Walking slowly, taking in the sight of the huge bay stuffed with Vipers and Raptors, he reached the Admiral and his staff and presented Admiral Westergyne with a smile that chilled the military officer to his core.

"Welcome to the heart of the Colonial Defense Force, the _Poseidon_, flagship of the fleet and our pride and joy."

"Thank you Admiral," he smiled. "It's always a pleasure to see the Colonial's finest." Iblison took another look around. His robes depicting his station swirled as he performed a slow one hundred eighty degree turn. "Yes, very impressive," he said slowly. "Too bad this vessel wasn't at the Apellai system. I'm sure this wonderful ship and her fleet would have made a difference in that little skirmish with the Earther colony – oh, forgive me. I should call them the Apellai. They really are you know. The sooner they accept this, the better. Don't you agree?"

The ninety ships in this force might have or maybe not, thought the Admiral. Tau'ri weapons were formidable. And then what, try to pacify a planet where they seemed to have weapons hidden under every rock, not to mention super nukes? He didn't even want to think about what defenses ground to orbit weapons they had. Those squid missiles were a nightmare in themselves and he didn't even want to think about possible ground-based plasma beam cannons they might have supporting their super nukes. Personally he didn't think that they were going to accept anything if they didn't want to.

"I'm sure should have made a difference," was how the Admiral slowly and diplomatically responded. It was a politically correct answer that neither of them believed for a second. "Some of our newest weaponry might have been able to slow them down somewhat, your lordship."

"Yes, a pity isn't it? We'll have to do better next time, won't we?" He turned and glanced towards one of two small vehicles waiting to take him to his stateroom.

The men and women crowded into the cars. "Small, but I guess I could tolerate this until I get to my posting."

"Yes Sir," the Admiral said automatically.

"The President was very adamant that nothing go wrong with this mission," Iblison announced. "You know how important this is," he stated. The smile was gone now. "The failure of Adar and Nagala to pacify the Apellai has been seen by some as a failure of faith to the gods by our military. I suspect our fine men and women of that unfortunate fleet hadn't prayed sufficiently before we attempted to fulfill our glorious cause of exterminating the last of the Cylon menace."

"High Priest Iblison," the Admiral nearly growled, "are you trying to imply that the deaths of tens of thousands of men and women by the Earthers were because of their lack of faith?"

"Please call me Countiso," Iblison said. "Titles are such cumbersome things, don't you agree, Admiral? As I was saying, the President has insisted that this mission is a success as a first stepping stone." Countiso Iblison began smiling once more, something that the Admiral was beginning to hate already. "There are other forces out there, just waiting to take away everything we've built. We need an edge against the Luicen Alliance and the demon serpents. This mission will be the first step in securing our people."

"High Priest, I believe they're called the Lucian Alliance."

"Yes, yes," he dismissed with a wave of his hand. All traces of false humor had vanished now. "And I must insist that you call me Countiso," he said once more.

"Sir, I believe it's best to continue using your title," Westergyne responded. "It keeps the chain of command clear."

"As you command, Admiral," Iblison replied. "You're a wise man. I shall remember that when I assume authority over the Race." He smiled his teeth glittering in the floodlight. "I will protect them as if they were our children and they will love us for it. It's always good for your enemies to know where the authority lies, don't you agree?"

The admiral smiled blandly. "Now that you're here, honored Sir, the order to jump to our forward base will be given."

"Then by all means, let's begin this momentous journey," Iblison intoned. I look forward to meeting Commanders Adama and Cytnson after we complete our first jump."

The rest of the short journey to his quarters were made in relative silence.

Admiral Westergyne excused himself, and then headed for the bridge, glad to be away from the High Priest. It had taken everything he had not to follow his first instinct and space the man. How in the name of the gods had this man been picked to become Colonial overseer?

"This is only going to end badly," he grimaced to himself. The question was, could he do anything about it before it all hit the turbo thrusters?


	6. Chapte 5

_**Chapter Five**_

_**Colonial Star Station **_

_**Base Makaria**_

_**Rear Admiral Karis Mettlar commanding**_

_**Thirty six light years from Sol**_

Just as Admiral Westergyne had always understood that religious beliefs played an essential part in the preservation and sanity of the soul he knew that zealots were always pains and usually had a tendency to get you killed while they hid in the background screaming it was the gods' will. That was his summation of his opinion of High Priest Iblison. He was, despite his pseudo-calm demeanor, a very dangerous man on a mission of glory. He was also a controlling, micromanaging politician, not the religious leader that he should have been. It took strength to be in that man's presence and more than once he had to hold his own tongue in check to keep from having open warfare erupt on the ship.

It had been a long six weeks from home to the launch point.

Finally, the _Warstar Poseidon_ and the other eighty-nine ships of the assault arrived at the periphery border of Star Station Base _Makaria_. Again, politics had played a part even in the naming of the station. The Senate didn't want to call it a starbase, which was what it was, because it somehow implied the word _'Basestar'_ which implied some type of Cylon connection. It was perfectly ridiculous but those were the times he live in and had to grit his teeth and keep quiet while the powers-that-be dictated policy. _Makaria's_ DRADIS picked up the fleet approximately four seconds later and issued challenge. Confirmation was given, proper codes exchanged, vectors issued, and the fleet, two days late, was allowed to approach.

Admiral Westergyne was impressed. The station was huge, capable of handling as many as three dozen heavy Battlestars at one time. There were several Battlestar fleets assisting in its already formidable defense and the base itself orbited a beautiful world filled with water and abundant life, with a viable biosphere more than sufficient for Human life to flourish. The majority of the crews and support mechanisms were located on the southern most landmass. It was indeed beautiful, something which underscored another source of envy among the Colonials.

The solar systems surrounding the Tau'ri systems were rich with worlds teeming with life and suitable for colonization. His people had nothing like this anywhere near them. All of the worlds that could support life were either poisonous to humanity or marginally habitable. That wasn't the case around here. The Tau'ri could trip and find beautiful worlds just perfect for Humanity and by comparison, the Colonials were resource poor. Point in fact, there was very little to nothing within the Colonial sphere of influence that remotely compared to this almost idyllic region of space.

Thankfully, the planet wasn't some dead rock and would provide a good training ground for the lizards, if everything fell into place.

"Admiral, the base Rear Admiral wishes to speak to you."

"I'll be right there. Prepare a Raptor."

_**Battlestar Tiryns **_

"Look at this!" Iblison said to Commanders Adama and Cytnson who were gazing at the space station on the viewscreen. "It's a magnificent tribute to Colonial ingenuity and innovation. Such stature. Such firepower. When you see this, I can't understand how the Thirteeners could have prevailed." His smile now focused on the two men. It was completely predatory. "To be here makes me proud to be a Colonial. Don't you agree?"

"Yes, Sir," both men said immediately.

.

Commander William Adama didn't like the man standing in front of him. _By the gods_, he thought, _insincerity rolled off of the man like sweat off of a porcine infant._ But there was something dangerous lying just below the surface and whatever it was it set Adama's instinct on edge. The man never traveled anywhere alone. From what the other commanders had said, two or more acolyte bodyguards always accompanied him wherever he went and there was no doubt that they were armed and dangerous. Word had got around to avoid the man if possible and for the last few weeks Adama had managed to evade while on the _Galactica_, but he couldn't hide forever and the inevitable happened.

"I'm displeased with myself for not coming to see you sooner," Iblison intoned gently. "But I found myself being woefully unprepared for this mission and I had to play catch-up, as they say. Becoming a chief administrator of a planet required far more, shall we say study, than I anticipated. Did you know that these poor pitiful creatures have never discovered anti-gravity and that they believe that when their leaders die, they become gods in the afterlife that these things pray to? If they weren't ignorant aliens, I would have them punished for blasphemy," he said soberly.

"With respect Pontiff Iblison, we should never assume that these 'people' are just ignorant aliens. The reports state that they've had a stable civilization for thousands upon thousands of years. They have their own culture, their own beliefs that-"

"It's not important what they believe, Commander," Iblison said softly cutting him off. "It's what we believe that matters. By your tone, it seems that you aren't in total agreement with our mission and that surprises me. You were the one who undertook that glorious mission that helped us flush out those Cylon abominations, Bill. I can call you Bill, can't I?"

"I prefer you call me Commander Adama, Pontiff Iblison."

Iblison looked perplexed at first and then started chuckling. "It appears that the Colonial military collectively has very little sense of humor, except towards themselves, comrades-in arms and all of that." After a moment, he stopped. "Commander Adama, I've wanted to speak for such a long time, to commend you and your actions at the armistice line six years ago." He stopped for a moment. "Has it really been that long ago? My, how time flies. It was your personal actions that forced the Cylons to focus their attention there. If it hadn't been for you, we wouldn't have broken them at Carylon. I and the Pontiffs, indeed the very people of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol were very pleased and humbled by your actions and offered many prayers for the honored dead."

The man's only reaction to the praise was a slight hardening of his features as memories came flooding back. "I did my part as I was ordered to," Adama said.

Approximately six months prior to the actual Colonial assault on the Cylon home territories, Commander Adama was ordered by the Admiralty to approach the Armistice Line and send a stealth fighter into the zone to test Cylon defenses and provoke the Cylons into sending their ships into the sector to defend against a possible incursion by Colonial forces. The ploy worked all too well as Adama found himself the target of a Cylon recon in force. The battle lasted over two days as two Basestars dogged his Battlestar. The long-ranged sensor data and recordings acquired by the Battlestar _Valkyrie_ were enough to panic the Cylons, forcing them to send out a full scale retrieval termination squad after the ship. Causalities were as high as forty percent before help in the form of two additional battlestars arrived. By then the main Colonial fleet had slipped deep into Cylon territory and crushed the surprised opposition before they could mount a proper defense. Along with the information gleaned from the tortured Six, the Colonials knew exactly where and how to strike. The few Cylons that escaped were ruthlessly hunted down. Only three ships had been unaccounted for which were now known to have fled to the Tau'ri system and safety. His victory was a great one but Adama's ship and crew including his son Zack had paid the price for that victory. Victory versus the loss of a child hadn't been reconciled with yet.

"I understand your sacrifices you and your family have made, Commander," Iblison said sincerely. "And I wish that things could have turned out differently but the gods are mysterious in their actions and we are but mortals after all. Perhaps the sacrifices we are forced to endure are there to remind us that no victory is without cost and it serves to remind us that there are other enemies out there that would seek to destroy our people without remorse. That's why we are out here, not for personal gain but to protect everything we hold dear." He turned and gazed at the station once more. "The Apellai are dangerous children, finding their way into the universe haphazardly with technologies they have little understanding of and even less control over. In their shortsightedness, they've given sanctuary to the Cylons, the same machines that would have freely destroyed us all if circumstances had gone their way. Then there is the Lucien alliance, thugs with starships.

"We have to protect ourselves, and that is why I'm glad we have men of your caliper, commanders, who understand who they are and what they must do in order to protect the Colonies and eventually mankind across this galaxy from the evils that rear their heads seeking to destroy us. As powerful as the Apellai are, they're still infants, feeling their way blindly across this galaxy. In many ways they're like us. Well," he smiled, they '_are'_ us, but without the maturity, or the numbers, or the dedication we've developed for thousands of years. They need our help and they need our guidance whether the know it or not, or they will become a hindrance that will cause hurt to themselves and us if they continue to run across the galaxy like frightened children with big guns. We need to come together and work as a family under our leadership if we all are to survive the dangers we've just began to see in this universe. However, their so-called government has rejected unification discussions out of hand and has killed our men and women, showing them to be just as vicious and arrogant as the LA. And we must tread carefully, which is why this mission is so important. We need numbers, numbers which these creatures will provide once we've properly trained them. They will be our soldiers a first line of defense against those that would see to harm and destroy us and our way of life. We will use them and our people will not need to suffer the horrors of war."

"That's what we said about the Cylons."

"True," the Pontiff conceded. "But there are differences," he stressed. "These lizards are intelligent and loyal to whoever leads them. Once trained, then tens of thousands of years of instinct kicks in and they will do as they are commanded. We have the advantage of the sword of Damocles which we will bring down on their heads of necessary. And in time they will accept us and love us. They've done the same thing to the two worlds they've brought into their empire. Those creatures consider themselves members of the Race. So there's no reason we can't do the same and it will be better for all, because they're threatened as well by the Apellai and the Lucien Alliances, and the Astorath System Lords. Bringing them under our unified banner benefits everyone and eventually even the Apellai will understand this. That's why this mission is so important."

_'Doesn't this man know how to shut up?'_ thought Adama. "I don't see how forcing an alien species to serve as cannon fodder benefits our people," he said. "We could wind up facing the same problem as we did with the Cylons."

Iblison shook his head sadly. "You keep coming back to that," he said as if speaking to a child which only served to make Adama bristle. "We will have control of the situation this time. There will be no repeat of the Cylon disaster here. We know where the Race and their two colonies are. They have no space force or military to speak of and we will have total superiority over their skies. One or two nukes will clear up any questions as to who is in control. No, we will not make the same mistakes as before and for their sakes, no more ancestral worshiping but they will come to understand the true religion." At the skeptical looks from both men, Iblison sighed and continued. "Whether you believe or disbelieve doesn't matter. The Lords of Kobol were true gods in every manner and these creatures will understand this as they are properly introduced to the true religion. All it will take will be the indoctrination protocols designed by the Pontiffs. As for their lives, it will continue on as it has before with very few changes other than the fact that we will control their lives and they'll pledge their allegiance to us."

"So, are you saying that these aliens will have the same rights as people," asked a very dubious Cytnson.

"Absolutely not," Iblison said. "They're not Human and even if they have achieved space travel, we've determined that they are unable to understand the complexities of Human culture at this evolutionary point in their lives. Eventually they may gain rights equivalent to the equality of people but at this point, they're not ready. Their primitive form of religion proves that. If they were then we know that they would have developed a form of religion that would be similar if not identical to ours. This is beyond their ability to do at this time because we have determined that they have no souls. Like any animal they can develop intelligence but that true spark of spiritual enlightenment is beyond them."

"So, they're smart enough to invent space travel but not smart enough to understand religious doctrine? They're smart enough to conquer two worlds and their people but not smart enough to be considered equal? Is that what you're saying?" Cytnson asked. The whole train of thought seemed contrived and he made no attempts to hide his beliefs.

"Complex religious doctrine," the Pontiff corrected. "And ants conquer their neighbors as well. Do they have souls?" and with that he laughed at the absurdity of the comment. "What they've done and are doing is instinct, backed with some intelligence, nothing more. Granted, it's advanced but it's still instinct-based nonetheless. Our psychological tests and exhaustive analysis of their personalities, mental capabilities, and thought-processes have demonstrated this conclusively."

"I'm not as concerned with our mission as I am with the Tau'ri" said Adama changing the subject. "These aliens are in their backyard and if they lay claim to them then we'll have our hands full."

"Don't worry about them," Iblison said. "The Race has no idea who the Apellai are, didn't even know that they exist. The Apellai have no claim on the Race otherwise they would have conquered them long ago. But we got her first. We have nothing to worry about."

"It's about time you got here."

Admiral Petre Westergyne flashed a smile at his long time friend. "Sorry, Karis. We were delayed. Seems that the Pontiff had a need to be fashionably late."

The short woman threw a mock glare at her old friend. "Just glad you made it," she quickly answered. "How was your trip?"

"Noisy, but uneventful. The High Priest has everything in an uproar," he sniped and then went into detail concerning thee man. Obviously Petre was not impressed. "Iblison's trying to make friends with every commander of the fleet, or he's making a head count for those he can trust."

The Rear Admiral nodded in understanding. "Thought something happened to your fleet." She shrugged. "Around here, you never know."

"The Tau'ri?"

"No," she said, which caused Petre to release a breath he didn't realize he was holding. "We haven't been discovered yet, as far as we can tell. But I don't want to confront them without your support. This base's been here since before our first battle with them and let me tell you, I was sure that I would have had to abandon the station at one point. I've had drills around the chronometer for months in order to prepare in case we were attacked. We've needed them since the Cylon problem was cleared up; can't get lazy. From everything I've read on them, those Apellai/Tau'ri ships are powerhouses. But they never found us and we've been growing ever since."

"Thank the lords for that. But I see it really has grown from just a simple forward base. I knew it had, but seeing it… well it's impressive."

"Six miles of armored space station," she proudly announced. "That planet down there is as rich as Caprica in mineral and bio resources. And you wouldn't believe the number of trees! We have a nice sized colony there now with factories supplying us with plenty of materials and fresh foodstuffs. I know that it was supposed to be a façade but, by the gods, we're actually creating a really good sized habitation down there and people from all of the colonies would find it acceptable as a good place to live."

Westergyne nodded briskly as he sat down on the couch.

"Not only that but there are at least two more worlds whose biospheres are similar to Caprica that are just like it in other systems less than a parsec away." she said excitedly. "They all have similar almost identical kinds of trees. What's with that? It's so rich around here that I estimate that we could plant about four to five colonies on different worlds and all of them would thrive. Our ground forces are more than happy to stay down there. If their families were allowed to come…"

"Shame that's not our main reason for being here," he mused. He had read the reports about the sector earlier but even he was somewhat stunned by her comments. The colony below was essentially created a sham in case the Tau'ri discovered them. It provided them with a credible excuse for being there, except it had turned into a real excuse, solidly etched on the world below. The holding and training stations for the lizards had already been completed. Many other buildings and even modest homes were already on the planet with the military and civilian personnel already settled and doing nicely and the settlement provided an excellent alternative to the crowded and artificial living conditions on the station.

"I look forward to touring it before mission," he said. He took the glass of dark ambrosia offered him swirled it gently and gulped it down. "Have you got a name for the world yet?"

She smirked. "A couple of the powers that be at home want to call it New Caprica, but I think that would hurt in the long run. A lot of people suggested that name, all from Caprica of course. That set off the Piconese, so I considered using Makaria. But I'm leaning towards Pontu-Nika. 'Bridge of Victory' seems appropriate considering the challenges we have here. It's a name that will bring us luck."

"Sounds like a good choice. But, hurry before someone chooses for you."

"Speaking of which, how's life at home?"

"The political situation is a mess. Everybody's clamoring for a clarification of the quote 'Thirteener situation' unquote. Being politically correct we should use the name Apellai and you're going to hear that word a lot when you speak to the Pontiff arrives so be prepared. Most of the people think that we should be able to overwhelm them with superior numbers and firepower of our fleet. Half the hot heads in the military thinks so, too and the Quorum is split down the middle debating whether to subdue them with everything we have, or just leave them alone for now and try not to piss them off. A lot of people think our failure was a fluke or bad planning. Admiral Cain is advocating a massive invasion force be created for the 'Thirteener pacification' as is being called. Then we have the Lucien problem hanging like a sword over our heads. They don't know about us but the more we hear about them, the more I can see us coming into conflict sooner rather than later. Then there are the System Lords."

"You're right. It is a mess."

"Yes, it is," he confirmed. "Then we have this mission, which does have it merits, I'll admit. It'll give us time to prepare. But what we need are the Thirteeners…"

"You mean Apellai," Karis smirked.

"Point taken. We need their technology base and they need our numbers. We should have approached them differently, less belligerently but we screwed up."

"I heard about the second incident. That didn't go well."

"I don't know what possessed that commander to attack a messenger ship. Well, I do," he corrected. "The instant Stenes saw that it was an Apellai ship he wanted to be the first to engage and commandeer it. The Apellai – wait. Frack this. The Tau'ri ship," he corrected, "cut the Battlestar in half. Fifteen hundred lives lost and for what, because of a trigger-happy commander looking to enhance his reputation?"

She shook her head in dismay. "Made us look impotent."

"Yes, and it showed us for what we are, the new kids on the block. We know nothing about life out here, and that ignorance is going to kick our collect arses." he said. Looking at his glass for a moment, he then drained it. "We need time and resources to survive out here and I hate to say it but these little lizards are going to help us get the time we need."

"Quick question. Can anyone speak lizard?"

"Yes. There is this scientist named Doctor Gaius Baltar and a few others, including the High Priest, who's been learning as much as they could given the time frame."

"How good are they?"

The Admiral's lip twitched slightly. "Your guess is as good as mine. It better be good enough to be able to be understood or it'll be another headache that we'll have to…"

Alarms started blaring as the room's lighting began flashing a pulsating red.

"Gods!" the rear admiral hissed. Next, she was sprinting towards the Command and Control Centre at a dead run followed closely by Westergyne. "We didn't schedule a drill for today!"

Her quarters were not far from the heart of the station and both admirals were there in less than a minute.

"Status!" she ordered.

A dark brunette, eyes glued to her screen, responded instantly. "DRADIS contact. One ship, length six hundred twenty four meters. Came out of nowhere. Challenge sent. No response. Profile suggests light cruiser class."

"One of ours?"

"Definitely not ours. Profile matches Tau'ri config at eighty-seven percent."

"Who's on point in that sector?"

The _Paestum_ and _Deios_," she responded. "Whatever it was blew past their perimeter before their DRADIS could properly register their presence."

"Bring all station weapons to bear. Place nukes online," she ordered. "I want perimeter ships converging on the unknown. Where is it heading?"

"Straight towards us."

"Weapons active. Give me an open channel."

Admiral Westergyne stood back and watched the controlled chaos, intending not to interfere with Karis' command. The crew, twenty strong, was professional and efficient, just like his own command. He was hunched over the DRADIS just far enough not to violate the woman's personal space while she was working. Whatever it was, its speed was insane.

Before the rear admiral could say anything communications started screaming almost being overwhelmed by the numbers of ships demanding the rear admiral's attention.

_"This is Battlestar group two,"_ the wireless squawked. _"Unidentified warship vectoring towards station. Challenge ignored! What are the rules of engagement?"_

"Do not fire unless fired upon."

_"It's coming right at us,"_ the commander of the Battlestar _Mycene_ yelled. "_All weapons active and tracking. Vipers have solid locks. Firing solution in seven seconds. Shall we fire, repeat shall we fire?"_

"Negative, do not fire. To all ships hold your fire! Don't fire unless fired upon!"

_"It's coming right at us! If they fire first…. Permission to fire!"_

"Negative, do not fire unless fired upon!"

_"Sir...!"_

The rest of the communication was lost as the unidentified ship flew past the Battlestar, its two escorts, and Viper screen. Incredibly it came to a stop less than three kilometers from the station. Every defensive gun and missile system locked onto the intruder. The station was fully prepared to use every weapon available to it to neutralize the presumed enemy vessel. Two _Mercury_ battlestars took flanking positions less than ten kilometers from the intruder..

"Confirmed! It is Tau'ri," one of the syops informed. "New class. Computer identifies it as a heavy battle cruiser. Power readings are extremely high. Defenses are active but they are not targeting us or our ships. They're just sitting there."

"Those cheeky…they're daring us to shoot them," Westergyne said. He was beyond angry at this point.

"We're getting a signal from the Tau'ri ship," communications officer Tielle said.

"So now they want to talk?" growled an infuriated Karis. "Don't respond yet. Let them wait. Scan that ship in detail, but do not fire."

"Admiral, High Priest Iblison is demanding to speak to the Tau'ri vessel."

"Oh, just what we needed," the rear admiral practically hissed. 'Inform him he'll have to wait until we establish communications. Until then this is a military operation and as the chief authority I am responsible for all actions on this station." She turned to Petre. "From everything you've told me, I don't trust him. What's he planning?"

"He is the highest ranking civilian here, period, given the commission from the President, Westergyne reminded her. He wasn't pleased, either but the Colonial military was under the command of the civilian authorities, and he didn't see any way around it."

"This is a military situation and I will not cede authority in a potential military conflict."

"Admiral, DRADIS isn't penetrating their ship; could be because of their shielding."

"Admiral, the Tau'ri ship has repeated their request for us to open communications with them," Ensign Tielle informed her. "They've also said if we do not respond now, then they will consider our proximity to their system a prelude to invasion and respond accordingly. And Iblison is online again demanding that he speak to them."

"One ship?" She almost laughed but caught herself. She ignored Iblison for the moment.

The Tau'ri were a dangerous lot. Underestimating them was tantamount to committing suicide.

She hated being dictated to.

She had no choice.

"Open a channel," ordered the Admiral. "I want a visual."

_"Finally,"_ a rather short man with a bald head said. He looked like an evil account for a crime syndicate. He had to be a politician. "_I'm Richard Woolsey, representing the Tau'ri of Earth. We were in the neighborhood when we detected a series of spatial distortions in this system and came to investigate. You can imagine our 'surprise' when we scanned the area and found you here and a starbase filled with Colonial warships within one jump from Earth space. My question is are you planning to attack Earth?" _

Karis' answer was immediate. "I'm Admiral Karis Mettlar, Commander of this station. Your actions violating Colonial space without previous communications, and attempting to instigate and provoke military action is also tantamount to starting hostilities with us. Yes, we are within one jump for your star system. However to answer your question, we are not here to invade, attack, or harass your system in any manner." Behind her stood Admiral Westergyne, lending moral support but otherwise deferring to the commander of the base. "We have no intentions of provoking any military actions against the Apellai."

_"I'm sure you mean 'Tau'ri',"_ Woolsey corrected.

"You can call yourselves whatever you want, Mister Woolsey. Our ships here are here to protect our interests and ensure the safety of our people."

_"And just what are your interests, Admiral? There are enough warships floating around her to start a war. I won't even mention this space station,"_ he said while mentioning the very fact of its existence_. "Our last two encounters haven't been under the best of circumstances. You attempted to use nuclear weapons on my world and you fired on one of our ships that helped to bring back thousands of your own military personnel. Your actions haven't inspired us with confidence."_

The admiral was sweating and she silently berated herself for it. Internally the woman was bristling as she listened to this small man from some small backwater colony planet dictate terms to her and she was too afraid to do anything about it – like blow the ship and its crew and its ugly little man into the next galaxy. The situation was tense and she needed to defuse it quickly before this turned into a shooting war. Those super nukes they had had given her and a lot of others nightmares and everyone knew that all it would take was one of those monsters to cripple her station before she could do anything about it... A quick desperate prayer to every deity she knew of and then she spoke. "For the answers to your question I will defer to our Chief Magistrate, Pontiff Iblison."

_"I look forward to speaking to him."_

"Get Iblison on the wireless."

_"I presume you're Mister Woolsey,"_ asked Iblison.

"You presume correctly."

_"You've caused quite a stir and for no reason at all,"_ Iblison said. _"If I didn't know better, I'd believe that you were trying to start a war."_

He was smiling Woolsey noticed but it never reached his eyes. Woolsey took time to observe the man. First thing was that everything on him was perfect, his clothes, every strand of hair, and that almost perfectly practiced smile. Every word that he said was designed to disarm and intimidate at the same time. This man was someone to be wary of.

"Chief Magistrate Iblison, be assured that if we wanted to start a war, you and your station wouldn't be here right about now. Earth takes a dim view of people who try to conquer, nuke, eat, or otherwise subvert our world. You've made your intentions clear when you tried to conquer my planet."

_"Ah, so you don't trust us!"_

"No."

_"Then let us put your mind and the mind of the Apellai at ease. We have no intentions of bringing the Thirteenth Colony back into the fold as it were, at this time. In fact, we applaud your independence and dedication to the protection of your world. My only sorrow is that you refuse to take your rightful place among your fellow Colonials."_

"We're not your thirteenth colony," Woolsey told him. "We've told your president this, although like you he refuses to listen. But that's not important. What is important is that I want to explain to my satisfaction as to why you are here."

_"Such impatience and arrogance,"_ the Pontiff intoned. _"Well, if you must know, in our journeys chasing the Cylon savages who threatened to destroy our worlds and our ways of life and fled to your world with you accepting them and thereby branding you traitors to Human kind, we discovered this world and decided to colonize it. As you are aware, our sector of space is a veritable desert on terms of habitable worlds with life that can sustain Humanity. The gods allowed us to discover this world and we've started to colonize it which we began before we knew where the Thirteenth colony was. But like any prize, we must protect it, hence the ships. It's a dangerous universe out here. We intend to protect what is ours. We claimed this world which was devoid of sentient life. That is why we're here,"_ he finished. His smile wavered. _"I wasn't aware that we had to explain things to you. Although you may think you do, you don't own this galaxy."_

"But we do protect what is ours," Woolsey countered. "For your information, the Cylons came to us and we helped them. Earth has its problems but we do not condone genocide by people who would target our largest cities with nuclear missiles. We have no claim on this world but its proximity may make Earth a tempting target for you and we will not tolerate that."

_"I give you my world that your fellow Colonials have no intentions of attacking your world. Besides that would be counter productive. After all we're brothers and we want you to join us willingly. There are dangers out here that threaten us all. We followed the Cylons to rid us of an enemy and it was destiny that we've found you. You've been lost two thousand years. It's time to come home."_

"I'm sure you believe that," Woolsey said. "But even if we were this Thirteenth Colony you're so desperately to believe us to be, only a fool would believe that after two thousand years we would give up our independence and ways of life to follow the dictates of a society that we don't even like."

For the first time, Woolsey could see naked hatred flare in his eyes_. "I can see we have our differences, don't you agree?"_ he said slowly. His words were becoming even more deliberate_. "One day, you will see the error of your ways. But for now, be comforted by the facts that the Colonies of Kobol, with the resources of twelve worlds and close to eighty billion people, and a space force fifteen times your size and growing, and a technological base that will soon be on par with yours soon enough will not attack you. We have bigger things to concern us than your paltry little empire. In the scheme of things you're nothing," _he laughed. "_You're here with your little ship trying to dictate terms to your superiors. It is with our rights to crush your ship where it stands. We've done nothing to you but you violated our territory without cause, threatening us. One ship against a nation that has traveled the stars a thousand years before you understood the concept of forging iron breastplates. Who is the fool? You beat back our forces once. Now you dare to stand in the heart of the fire dictating terms to us?"_

_"Pontiff,"_ Woolsey heard the Admiral caution in the background.

_"Admiral, lock all weapons onto his ship,"_ he ordered, then turned to Woolsey smiling once more. _"Let's see if this one ship is willing to start a war in the heart of the furnace. Admiral, I want you to fire on this ship."_

"If you fire on us, we will respond."

_"Then surrender your ship. We will be merciful. You have my word."_

_"Pontiff, I advise against this action."_

_"Duly noted, Admiral,"_ acknowledged Iblison. _"As Chief Magistrate whose authority comes directly from the President of Twelve Colonies of Kobol, I've given you an order,"_ he said smiling once more. _"Crush this ship."_

_"Magistrate, we're not here to start a war with the Apellai."_

_"This ship violated out territory like a common thief. I want its hull smashed as a testament to any Thirteenth colonial that would be foolish enough to try to intimidate us."_

_"Mister Woolsey, if you leave now, I won't be forced to fire on your ship,"_ the Admiral said. Clearly the woman didn't want to start at fight. However that sentiment couldn't be said for this religious politician.

_"Admiral, I want that trespasser destroyed by whatever means necessary. I won't repeat myself to you a third time."_

Richard Woolsey shook his head. Plan A didn't work. Plan B was now in effect. He turned to face the commander of the _Oregon. _ "Colonel, time to up the ante."

Colonel Tamara Wilson turned to her communications officer who gave the signal.

Six Tau'ri warships materialized from nowhere, stunning the Colonials as they realized exactly what had happened. But what shocked them more was the one ship that appeared to the portside of the _Oregon_.

It was a Colonial missile boat, obviously heavily modified by the Tau'ri. It still looked like a missile cruiser but only superficially. The power readings were almost beyond anything it should have been and the four sets of forward missile launchers had been removed. Instead, they had been replaced by greatly feared plasma cannons the Tau'ri had used to such devastating effect. Four of the ships were the mainline warships while the remainder were the smaller _Apollo_ class super gunboats. But with the exception of the stolen missile cruiser, none were larger than the _Oregon_. The _BC-305_ was the latest design of the Tau'ri made battleships, built to take on Wraith cruisers and make a respectable showing of itself against a Hive ship.

_**Battlestar Galactica**_

_**Inner Base Perimeter**_

Saul Tigh gripped the backside of the DRADIS' hard enough to make indentations as he glared at the screen. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"They weren't there a second ago, sir," said junior grade Lieutenant Felix Gaeta as he tried to refine the visuals on the sensor system. "No jump residuals, no jumping, or whatever they call it. They were just there! And that one is configured like one of our missile carriers!"

"It probably is. Could they have just flew in before DRADIS could detect their movement?" It sounded crazy but he was just as hard pressed to explain it. One moment nothing the next… "Did anybody know that they had a stealth system like that?"

"Not to my knowledge, Colonel. I've seen the battle records in and read all of the reports and speculations in detail and I never heard of anything like this."

Commander Adama came through into C&C door almost at a dead run. The Raptor had made it back in record time. "Sitrep!" he demanded as he made his way to the central command table.

"All Vipers are away, primary guns are ready, and we have our nukes warmed up. Six more of those Tau'ri ships just appeared on DRADIS from out of nowhere. They have a stealth system that's impressive as all Hades."

"Where's the closest enemy ship?"

"About thirty kilometers off our bow," replied Saul. "It's one of the smaller ones, an _Apollo_, but we can't get any real details on DRADIS. We can barely see it. Must have those shields we've heard so much about up. At least this time though they're within weapon's rage of our big guns. No gonna be a repeat of what happened last time."

"Are they targeting us?"

"No way to tell. Not with their systems. No ECM yet. Bill, what happened?"

"I don't know," he confessed. "I think they were talking. Iblison wanted to speak to them."

"Gods." Saul shook his head in disgust. "He's gonna get us in a war!"

"We're already in a war! I want every weapon we have locked on to that ship out there. If this goes down bad, I want to focus on that one ship. It may be the only chance we have. I swear that we won't go down without a fight."

"You heard the Commander! Lock everything we have on that ship out there!"

_**Colonial Star Station **_

_**Base Makaria**_

Admiral Mettlar gave the command. "To all ships, stand down! We are not starting a war today. I repeat stand down. Do not fire unless fired upon."

On screen, the Pontiff's face turned beet red. He was furious_. "You're choosing not to obey a direct order given to you?"_

"You overstepped your authority. I will not allow those under my command to needlessly die! My orders were given me directly from the President. We're not to start hostilities with the Apellai and I will follow his orders," she snapped. She turned to the other screen. Mister Woolsey, you have my word that we will not attack your world with anyone under my command."

_"I'm delighted to hear that, Admiral, although I'm sure not everyone shares your view."_

"This is our colony world and we mean you no harm. We are not going to attack you."

_"We will hold you to this. However, if you or your people decide otherwise, be assured that our reprisals will decimate the entire Cyrannus system."_

"Enough with your threats, Tau'ri," she snarled. "We've avoided a shooting match today, but be warned. This is our sovereign territory honorably acquired. Any violation such as what happened today with be met with lethal force. Now I would suggest that you outline your territory so that this _'misunderstanding'_ won't happen again."

_"In the interests of peace, I'm sure something can be arranged. But we will be watching you closely."_

"As will we."

_**Battlestar Galactica**_

"Stand down people. Recall the Vipers."

"Bill, what just happened?"

I have no idea." He was about to continue when five ships simply disappeared and visuals. Communications systems almost overloaded with the number of frantic witnesses to that little episode. He blew a breath as the other two ships, the converted missile cruiser and the original intruder moved off at a speed that defied logic towards a distortion that simply appeared out of nowhere. "But I'm going to find out." There were a few moments of silence as the tension on the ship slowly wound down. "We need to know why they were here and how they found out about the station."

"Pontiff, you nearly started a war!" Westergyne was absolutely furious. He glared daggers at Iblison, who in turn looked completely indifferent about the entire situation. "Our mission was almost completely compromised."

_"Nonsense, the situation was under complete control. The Tau'ri would have never survived our attack, not at this range. I've read the reports of their battle. In almost every battle they were beyond our weapon's range while they attacked us with impunity. The conditions were different. Our weapons are stronger and more powerful. Their much vaulted shields aren't as strong as we've made them out to be. We could have taken them all. You should be more concerned at the cowardly actions of your fellow officer."_

It was a good thing that Iblison is on the _Tiryns_, thought an irate Westergyne. He wouldn't have been responsible for his actions such as tossing the man out an airlock. "The Admiral's actions were in accordance with the articles of war laid down by the President of the Twelve Colonies. She did exactly as she was supposed to and my report of this incident will reflect this. It will also reflect what you've done. Your actions almost cost the lives of thousands as well as our station here!"

_"They were bluffing,"_ Iblison retorted. _"If they had attacked this station simply because we're only thirty-six light years from them,"_ and here the man snorted in derision, _"the entire weight of the Colonies would come down on their heads. Earth would be a smoking ruin and there's nothing they could do about it."_

"And just maybe they would have decimated Caprica or Picon in retaliation!"

_"Their forces are limited. We could have crushed or at least overran their forces at a dozen different points."_

"Of course it wouldn't matter to us. This station and its people would all be dead."

_"And Earth would be turned into a wasteland. But – but perhaps you're right. We do need them for the time being and we need to be patient. The gods rewards those who are patient. And I, I must learn to be more circumspect. There's no need for our people to be injured or killed so close to being on the precipice of victory. The Apellai will be dealt with soon enough. Please excuse me Admiral. There are things I must attend to now. The gods be with you." _The image of his smiling face disappeared as the visual closed.

"Can you believe that?" Petre growled. "I didn't think it could have gotten worse, until he opened his mouth."

"We're compromised to Hades and gone," grumbledKaris. "I've been looking at some of the prelim reports on the DRADIS scans. They've started using our own ships against us. We have to assume that the left a few of their steath probes in the are." She began cursing. "But that imbecile was right about one thing. The Tau'ri were trying to intimidate us."

"They succeeded," Perte said. "At this point it's too dangerous to attack them directly. That much is clear. It may have started off as a buff but turned out that they were serious."

"So are we. I will not be dictated to by some third rate world. Now I really understand why the Lucien Alliance and Goa'uld hate them. They are arrogant."

"With the power to back it up," Karis added. "Perhaps Cain was right. We may have to deal with them first."

"Perhaps, but not yet."

"No. Not yet. Iblison though, is another matter altogether."

_**Tau'ri Battle cruiser Oregon**_

"Colonel?"

"That sats are in place and we're on course, headed to the Pegasus galaxy, ETA three weeks," the dark-skinned woman turned her head to look at Woolsey. "That was a pretty big gamble. Do you believe that it'll work?"

"Yes," he said. "Or, at least I hope so. I hated resorting to plan B however we showed them enough to keep them cautious. The IOA and the various governments won't tolerate another such attack in our solar system without a massive response being implemented. We're critically needed in Pegasus and as you are aware; our forces are stretched enough without worrying about the Colonials making a return visit. Between the revelations of our cloaks, energy shields and their own ships being used against them, I think they will bend over backwards not to do anything stupid against us for the time being."

"_'Time being'_ being the operative words."

"Exactly. I assumed that you sent a detailed report to Earth."

Colonel Wilson raised an eyebrow.

"Understood," he said quickly. "Sorry I asked."

Three days later the first of Twenty Battlestars arrived in the star system of Home. Completely unprepared, the Race was about to experience an invasion the likes of which they had never imagined.

_**Next: Home, Hot Home.**_


	7. Chapter 6

_**Chapter Six**_

_**'Home, Hot Home'**_

_**One day post invasion**_

_**Tau Ceti star system**_

_**Home:**_

Six 'Race' years earlier, a Tau'ri ship had arrived, and with its presence signaled a series of events that would shock the Race to the cores of their beings and placed them on a path that would forever change how they viewed the universe. The race of Lizardians believed that they were the epicenter of scientific and cultural evolution in the universe. They believed that everything centered on them and their beings. In most ways that counted they were like most other species in the galaxy that had never encountered, or had encountered intelligent species less advanced than they. For the Race, the aliens of Halless and the Rabotev systems were such sentient creatures. Once discovered by the Lizardians, they took their time to carefully plan and conquer their neighbors.

Armed with huge star-faring ships, filled with radar-guided missiles, machine guns, and fighter jets called Killercraft, and land cruisers (tanks), they arrived with several million soldiers with the intent to subject the helpless aliens for the glory of the Race. Both the Halless and Rabotev aliens hadn't a chance to protect their homes from the invaders. Both species defended themselves against the Race using what weapons they had – with arrows, spears, catapults, and stone.

The Race had nuclear weapons capability, an unfair advantage true, but when the Race came conquering they came to win. With aero-jets capable of sub-orbital launch and tanks able to withstand anything the catapult throwing aliens could attack them with, the Race quickly conquered them. The ships sent to conquer those worlds were packed with every advanced weapon the Race had, including nukes. The philosophy of the Race was that if you were going to war then you went to war to win and the configuration of the conquest fleets reflected that. On each world, less than a dozen members of the Race were killed in battle. The Lizardians war machine was swift and efficient, taking both worlds easily, and within a few generations the Hallesses and Robotevs were fully incorporated into the Empire of the Race.

The Lizardians of the Race had reached out and conquered their neighbors, species that although alien were remarkably similar in anatomy to their conquerors. Using those observations, they made the assumption that most other species in the galaxy would follow the same evolutionary track, so it didn't really occur to them than some worlds contained species that would look radically different from anything than they had imagined, not that they had real imagination as Humans would understand the word. They were an old, stable species, set in their ways, trained for thousands of generations to follow their Emperor and to obey. When they died, their religious beliefs dictated that their spirits would go to serve the dead emperors' spirits of the past forever. To serve the spirits of their emperors pasts – that was their concept of heaven.

To the members of the fifty thousand year-old dynasty, obedience and servitude to the Emperor was ingrained into them and their culture. It was one that almost abhorred change, taking slow, deliberate steps and they progressed carefully, concerned about any advance that could possibly destabilize their civilization. The aliens incorporated into the empire were given equal rights but this term was a misnomer as they could not enter politics or the military – ever. That was a condition imposed by the Race in order to maintain their control and to nullify any possible rebellion, as impossible as that might have been. In short, they loved the way things were. However one of the problems of such a stable society lasting more than a hundred thousand years without conflict was an increase in population. A fundamental core of the Race was their strong belief in manifest destiny; that they had the right do conquer others because they could by right of strength. Before the first expedition was sent conquer their neighbors, the desert world of Home was home to over fifteen billion Lizardians and growing. As with any empire and population, it needed to expand into new territories or the repercussions would be horrible as resources were used up. The race was conservative and protected the resources of Home with a dedication that most human civilizations couldn't match, but there was only so much they could do.

Once conquered, both Rabotev Two and Halless One became home to millions and millions of Lizardians – forever. Flushed with two victories over the tens of centuries, the Race would eventually begin their search again for a nearby habitual world. Once found, the Empire would then spread once more. Interestingly, it never occurred to any member of the Race that finding such habitual worlds so close together should have been by all rights impossible. It was also interesting that the Race never had a clue that they too had been observed for thousands of years by an entity they couldn't have conceived of.

The being was an ancient creature, some say an immortal, others a demon, still others, a snake. But whatever this creature was called, ten thousand years earlier, he was power, beyond anything the Lizardians could imagine and the Supreme System Lord Ra, undisputed ruler of the Goa'uld was well aware of the Race, the Robotevs, and Halless. Although the Race would sneer at the thought that as little as ten thousand years earlier there was a power that would have rivaled anything that they could have imagined, the Supreme System Lord Ra knew of them and watched.

In the early days in their quests for dominance, many wars were fought for Ra's territory by other System Lords. Entire worlds were rendered lifeless, dozen of species extinguished by both Ra and the others System Lords in their quest for power and their overall paranoia. Ra, using his guile and superior technologies unknown to the others ruthless crushed his enemies and once he secured his base, he rested. Then Ra gazed upon his territory observed the Race, the Hallesses, and the Rabotev and smirked. To him, they were nothing. Their bodies would not serve his needs as had the primitive of Earth and more importantly, they were not a threat to his empire. Like the Race and the other two alien species, Ra hated and feared change as it threatened him, the status quo, and overall plans. The Race so similar in attitude to his own hated change as much as he served him well and he left them alone. He was amused by their similarity in attitude, and in that amusement, they had been granted life.

There were a few that suspected, but no one knew for sure if the rebellion by the primitive Humans and their attempt on his life had done something to him. But it had. Somehow it broke him. Daniel Jackson and several others advanced a theory that since a dying Ra had been so close to experiencing the final darkness before he took his first and only Human host, the rebellion, which could have been easily quelled given his advanced technology, forced to the surface this own primal fear of death which dominated his every subsequent action. Instead of squashing the rebellion, he ran. The other false gods even in his absence stayed away, afraid of Ra's power and the Race and other locals along with one of the richest habitual world-bearing sectors in the galaxy remained protected, isolated and then eventually forgotten.

Unfortunately for Ra and the Goa'uld, the forgotten Earthlings, Terrans, Tau'ri, or whatever their names the people of Earth are called, did change and grow, a nuclear bomb shoved in Ra's face was the final result. It was a bad day for the leader of the false gods and his annihilation signaled the beginning of the Goa'uld – Tau'ri conflict.

As for Race they had discovered Earth close to a thousand years earlier. They examined it, determined that it was suitable for their species to inhabit. In Earth's twelfth century, they sent a probe to determine the true viability of the third world they called the Tosev system. They found it inhabited (with no Ra who had left Earth thousands of years earlier, which was a good thing for them) by ugly alien clad in armor and riding huge fur-ridden creatures and throwing spears at each other.

The Lizardians were pleased at what they found and made preparations to incorporate another world into the Empire. The conquest was given the okay, the books on how to conquer other worlds and suggestions thereof, were dusted off and opened, and shipbuilding began. In a mere sixteen hundred Race years or eight hundred Sol years, they could invade and bring Earth or Tosev Three as they called it, into the Empire as they had the others. After all, the Tosevites couldn't possibly advance in a mere eight hundred Earth years, to be able to counter anything the Race had when they came to conquer. They hadn't even discovered electricity yet and if they were like everyone else (as in the Race, Hallesses, and Rabotevs) they wouldn't for another one to two thousand years. By then it wouldn't matter, since they would be good, loyal members of the Race – no matter how ugly they were. Sentients simply didn't change that quickly. Using every scientific measurement they knew, it was simply impossible.

That conclusion was perhaps the greatest mistake the Empire had ever made.

It didn't help that they added another seventy years to the already eight hundred Earth years to the overall plans to implement a small but critical improvement related to Killercraft effectiveness. To the Race another seventy years was a small period of time. To the far majority of the Tosevites-Earthlings living in the twenty-first century, World War Two was ancient history. Earth Advanced by leaps and bounds at a speed that the members of the Race couldn't hardly even grasp, let alone measure. By the Earth year two thousand nine, Earth as in the Tau'ri had the ability to vaporize the Race's massive fleet in less than a half hour and been back home in time for dinner.

The Race was not amused by that discovery; however there was nothing that they could have done to stop their slaughter if it had occurred. If they had been aware of the situation a few decades earlier, they would have decided to, without a doubt, use explosive-metal weapons (nuclear weapons) and bombed Earth flat and that would have been the end of it. Instead, they were trapped in a sort of limbo, discussing the dangers of the Tau'ri/Tosevite/ Big Uglies and the political, economic and military impact that discovery entailed. The first impulse was to order an immediate and massive nuclear strike which could be achieved in a mere forty Race years.

Warmer snouts prevailed however, thank the spirits of the emperors past, and that plan was reluctantly removed from consideration for several reasons, one of which was that the Tosevites could and would retaliate in a matter of hours with metal explosive weapons far more devastating than anything the Race currently had. Furthermore, the much accursed and feared Big Uglies defied the laws of physics with their ships that moved far faster than the speed of light. That was technological madness on its own that the Race couldn't possibly equal.

_**One day prior to invasion**_

_**Caprica City- Caprica:**_

The third Red phone began ringing.

The secretary froze, her heart nearly skipping a beat.

Long distance.

She knew who it had to be.

She waited.

It continued ringing.

Twelve times.

Silence.

Immediately she picked up her own phone and called the President of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol and then the Secretary of State.

It took five minutes before the Secretary Mencona answered.

"It's the third phone," she said.

_"How long ago?"_ he immediately asked.

"Eight minutes."

_"He'll call back in two minutes. Answer the phone, tie the translator in, and tell him I'll be there shortly. And tell him the President will be on to speak to him within twenty minutes. You've contacted the president?"  
_

"Yes, Sir. I contacted his security."

"Good."

One phone was disconnected while she glared at the other. This was going to be a late night for her.

President Antonius Goesel of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol rubbed his cheeks, trying to get the circulation going again. His wife was unconscious, still sleeping despite the constant beeping of the phone on the nightstand. He swore that that phone was making his hair grayer each time he looked at it, like some kind of evil aging device. He was still in his late forties but that phone and the job was aging him faster than he'd like. Each time it rang, it was a guarantee of another headache – and just how long had he had this job?

"Yes?" he asked. It wouldn't do to snap at the very people whose job it was to wake him in the early morning.

_"Red Phone number three,"_ the secretary had told him.

This would happen just before he could finally get some real sleep, Antonius Goesel thought. Less than an hour after he'd finally gotten to sleep, this the phone rang. "Have Secretary Mencona talk to him when he calls back.

_"Yes, Mister President."_

It took a few moments to gather his bearings before he grabbed his clothes. Kissing his still unconscious wife, he exited the bedroom. Grabbing his coat he opened his door to be greeted by two security men. Nodding they headed to the car. Five minutes later, he and his shadows were ushered into the capital building. Stepping lightly, he was met by two CFD commanders. Quickly, he and three of his aides, along with the commanders filed, into the elevator which swiftly transported them to the Presidential level. The door slid opened and two more aides appeared along with two high ranking military officers.

Tomas Stiles, a young man in his middle twenties started speaking as soon as Goesel's feet hit the hallway. "It started ringing twenty minutes ago. Twelve rings as per usual and then stopped. He's on now, waiting."

"The transmission. Can we track it this time?" grumbled the President already knowing the answer. It was a waste of breath, really.

"They're using their subspace signal to piggyback onto one of our own satellites from wherever their probe is. We're still trying to track it down."

"That's all I ever hear," he grumbled. "Find it. It's a stealth probe. It's not invisible."

"Yes, sir. We're trying."

Goesel merely grunted. The stealth probe that the Tau'ri used to spy on Colonial territories was as good as the three they had in the Apellai system. The Apellai probe had never been found let alone detected. Two years of dedicated searching and still the thing had evaded the CDF. It could make phone calls for the gods' sake!

Since the defeat of the Cylons the Colonials had subspace communications technology but their understanding was still in the early stages and only a few ships had prototype systems installed, but obviously the Earthers were ahead in the field. "Why does he call in the middle of the night, all of the time?"

"We believe that he does it on purpose," Tomas answered.

The others said nothing but most suspected that the President of the Thirteenth tribe _did_ choose these times on purpose."

"No doubt," Goesel said, giving proof that he suspected the very same thing.

"Did Mencona say why Hayes was calling?"

"He wouldn't tell him, not this time."

Goesel felt a chill that had nothing to do with the air-conditioning in the building.

_'Did they know?'_ he wondered, not for the first time.

_**Home:**_

_**Imperial Place - City of Preffilo**_

In his private chambers, Emperor Runshan's tongue flickered in anticipation of today's proceedings. His chambers was one of the few places where he could relax away from prying eye turrets and act as a typical member of the Race, or as much as he could given the fact that he was absolute ruler of tens of billions subjects. In another few moments he would enter the Great council hall and become the Emperor once more, using all of his considerable control to keep from biting his fellow leaders; but for now he could simply marvel at the way the blessings of the emperors past had converged to make him Emperor of Home. After twelve years, the secret thrill of living in the Palace with the power to control the lives of billions on four worlds still remained and he quietly reveled in it. But with such power came a great responsibility to rule wisely, something that the previous emperor had wore into his hide over and over again until it had become like a second layer of scales. He loved the thrill it gave him but he never forgot the dangers that hid in the crevices of his scales. With that firmly entrenched in his mind, he took a deep breath, allowing the hot, dry air saturate his single lung and cast one eye turret towards a huge, full length mirror that was two thousand years older than he was. The gold paint was as immaculate as ever and he could see no flaws. Of course, there wouldn't be any as the imperial Lassavors were so good at their jobs. From generation to generation, they had served the emperors and the court with distinction and perfection, making sure that the males and females were properly identified by their paint schemes as they entered the great hall. He laughed quietly. Those old females were the real powers in the court. Everyone obeyed them and submitted to be painted properly and even the emperor was hard-pressed to deny them when they brought out the paint and brushes.

Exiting slowly and regally from the inner chamber, he heard the familiar shout from the four grey painted praetorian guards. He ignored them as they commanded all to bow in his presence. The guards were ceremonial, a leftover from a time more than a hundred thousand years ago, during an age when the guards were really there to protect the emperor from real dangers. Slowly, he took his place on the throne and the huge, huge chamber doors opened. Those doors were made from a rare flame-colored, tiger-striped wood that had been meticulously made and then polished until the shown. Two hundred other members of the court graciously entered only to be confronted by the guards. It was strictly ceremonial and after the proper courtesies, they were allowed in. None of the officials missed these meetings unless they were ill or dead. The ability for real-time communication with a colony world thousands of light years away was still a stunning novelty. The subspace communications satellite given to them by the Tosevites offered an advantage lacking for the Hallessi and Rabotev star systems. Round trip communications took decades between Home and those two systems.

Today was a private meeting, not open to entertain petitions from males and females making requests for some silly or not so silly consideration. Today was the day that everyone came to hear the latest news concerning Home II. Today was official business as Home II and its progress would be discussed. Today was also to be a cankerous day as males of the royal court would start their posturing once more concerning the Tosevites and the state of the Race as it was.

Six Race years had passed and the royal court was still arguing about Home's lack of defenses and the supposed subjugation of Home II by the Tosevites, who by rights, according to several opposing political factions, should have been made a part of the Empire now and not perceived as the other way around. That same faction really refused to believe in their collective livers that Tosev III was really a star-faring race. Most of them blamed Fleetlord Atvar for being intimidated by two Tosevite spaceships and not pressing on to Tosev III and taking the world for the Race. They seemed to have forgotten how intimidated they were when the Tosevite space warship arrived with such shocking speed to orbit Home and then leave in the same manner. The loyal opposition, controlled by the Ssumaz Gradell faction, seemed obsessed with placing the blame around Atvar's neck.

The Emperor would have none of it.

_**Caprica: **_

_**Presidential Office**_

The president nodded at the news that the President of the United States of the planet called Earth (which should be called Apellai III but he wasn't about to argue the point now) was waiting for him and wouldn't discuss it with Secretary Mencona. This wasn't a good sign.

He sat in his chair, the others quickly taking their places as well. His glass was already full and he quickly gulped the ice water down. "Everyone ready, translator's on?" he asked. They all nodded. Pressing the conference button, he started. "Hello President Hayes.

_"Hello, Mr. President," _said President Hayes.

"I'm somewhat surprised that you called. This isn't our usual time for these friendly chats," he said, trying not to inflect the sarcasm he felt all the way to his soul.

_"No, and I'm sorry that I called at such an inopportune time," _the Tau'ri leader said in a way that indicated that he wasn't in the least. _"But it seems that we have something of a problem in my portion the galaxy involving your people that need clarification."_

"Oh, what is it? Can we do anything to help?" asked Goesel.

_"Possibly. My associates and I were very unhappy with you when we found out that you have a large military presence within two jumps of Earth. Frankly it's making some of us nervous since we know that you're kind of liberal with your ideas of using nukes on civilian populations."_

"I believe that you're concerned about our Colonial Star Station _Makaria_, he clarified. No need to deny it now. "First let me assure you that we have no intentions of attacking or threatening Earth," he stated. "Again, we have no intentions of attacking Earth or any of your territories wherever they might be. We tried reunification and it failed. Our conflict, it's over."

_"Cut the crap,"_ Hayes snapped_. "The war may not be hot, but it's still cold. You have over sixty warships not to mention that oversized starbase in a perfect position to come after us. You may not be aware of it, but when we discovered your station it came close to being blown back to the colonies. Some of us here on Earth are taking this as a premeditated act of war and want to turn Caprica into a grave yard. That's something I'd like to avoid but in order to keep from going to war you will have to do some serious explaining."_

It was worse than he thought. "The CDF there is under strict orders not to provoke or attack Tau'ri ships, personnel, or properties. We intend to maintain peaceful relations with our brethren despite your belligerent attitude and threats," snapped Goesel. "Admiral Karis Mettlar will not violate those orders."

_"Yes, that's what I was led to believe. The good thing is that she asserted her authority and no one got killed."_ He paused for a second_. "I don't know if you're aware of it but your Chief Magistrate Iblison apparently has other ideas. He strongly inferred that and I quote, 'one day, you will see the error of your ways. But for now, be comforted by the facts that the Colonies of Kobol, with the resources of twelve worlds and close to eighty billion people, and a space force__fifteen times your size and growing, and a technological base that will soon be on par with yours soon enough will not attack you.' Then he proceeded to order an attack on our ships. Your Admiral stopped the attack. But this Iblison didn't inspire any comfort on our part and I noticed that he likes to exaggerate. He doubled your population numbers, not to mention that he almost started a war. Is this the type of person that you want to represent your people out here? Because if it is, then I have to tell you now, you're going to have a lot of problems and not just with us."_

The Colonial president's eyes flickered, a signal to make sure that this situation with Iblison was fully explained as soon as possible. To his side, one of the officers quickly moved to the side and started making calls. '_What had happened out there?'_ thought Goesel. A war almost started and he had no details about except what Hayes was telling him. The man had a powerful advantage over him, leaving him floundering and looking incompetent because of his lack of information. He had to turn this around.

"As you've said," he started. "Your warships were in our territory. My fleet is under orders not to attack you. My question is, did you violate our territory to try to provoke a war with us?"

_"No. We were there to make a point,"_ Hayes said carefully. "_But your rhetoric and general attitudes seen in all of your broadcasts including your own interviews, gives us a pretty good idea exactly how you feel about us. Mr. President, I'm sure you've realized that the galaxy is getting smaller and smaller each day. Mistakes happen and lots of people die and we as leaders are responsible to try to avoid this if possible."_

"Yes, and this cold war as you call it, if I understand the term correctly, may well become hot at any moment if we don't proceed carefully. I have no interests in wiping one of our colonies from existence and it would be counterproductive for all concerned. Our real enemies are out there among the stars. The Lucien Alliance in its present government is a danger to us all. There are other things out there threatening Humanity."

_"Exactly my point, Goesel. There are threats out here. It's obvious that fighting each other will only serve to strengthen our enemies. So my question still stands. Why are you within two jumps of Earth with such a large force?"_

Again the Colonial leader bristled at his counterpart's demands. "We've been exploring," he said. "We've found a planet that is suitable for colonization. You had no claim on it; there were no others to claim it so we claimed it for ourselves. We have and will exercise our right to protect our property from all who threaten our people and that world. President Hayes, we don't have to answer to you for every thing we do. Did you have a prior claim to that world?"

Hayes' sigh was barely audible. _"No, we have no claims to that system."_

"And if you had we would have honored those claims as I ask you to do now. You're right when you say that the galaxy is getting smaller and smaller. You've already surveyed the colonies and you know the truth. It would be wonderful if we had eighty billion people but we have barely forty billion, many who are poor and destitute living on planets that are resource poor. Our people are all cramped in one system, easy prey for someone to find, strike and defeat without the weapons, defenses, and technology you take for granted. There is nothing in our region of space that can support life that we have found other than the twelve colony worlds. The world we discovered is perfect for human habitation and we have claimed it for ourselves. We intend to survive the Alliance and the Goa'uld and whatever else comes out way and I will not take the chance and lose it fighting our lost brethren. You have my word to the gods on this promise."

_"We'll see how well you hold to your promises,"_ Hayes countered. _"In the interests of peace however, I do propose that we develop a peace treaty stipulating no nuclear weapons to be used on populated worlds or colonies of our respective governments or in our respective star systems."_

"Nuclear weapons are part of our arsenal, President Hayes. I will not leave the CDF prisoner to this proposal."

_"As is ours in space,"_ Hayes agreed. _"We don't want you near our system without permission. It's reprehensible to use such weapons as a first line response against populated worlds, as you people seem to want to do at every turn. I understand that your ways of wagging war against your own differs from ours but unless you control yourselves, we will respond immediately and without mercy." _

"We've heard about the mercy you've extended to the free Jaffa and how your forces have tried to subjugate them," countered Goesel.

_"Excuse me?' snapped Hayes, immediately becoming angry." I don't know where you get your information from but we haven't tried to subjugate anybody."_

"We've also seen your phaser energy weapons and warp drives and a dozen other lost Federation technologies you're in the process of rediscovering," he continued excitedly, ignoring Hayes' phony protests. "You're the threat to the Colonies, not us to you."

_"We've told you before that Star Trek is simply entertainment. It has no bases in fact." _

"Five entertainment shows, a number of movies, and your channel of History have my advisers saying otherwise. But, as you wish. You can continue pretending it's a fantasy if it makes you comfortable."

_"Believe what you will, President Goesel. But understand that I speak for a united Earth in saying that we don't want war with you. However as long as you refuse to acknowledge the truth that we are not the Thirteenth tribe and am not subject to your rules and regulations under the dictates of your government, we will remain in a state of cold war. We will not return the Cylons and we will not subject ourselves to you or your government or your gods."_

"Your stubbornness to accept the truth is what keeps us separated, President Hayes. But it's becoming apparent that we do need a buffer zone of some sort to avoid any future conflicts between our people."

_"An excellent idea," _and Goesel suddenly got the impression that this is what Hayes was aiming for in the first place._ "But treaties take time to implement."_

"True and in order to make it effective we need to know what star systems you claim as territories so that we will not violate the and vice versa. There are three systems that we have found that we are laying claim to. They are uninhabited. I will provide the details to you, if your will do the same."

_"I have my people on line now. They can arrange the details."_

Smiling inwardly, he knew he was right. "I will have my people ready to discuss the details of our little arrangement in fifteen minutes."

_"Good. Better yet, we'll re-establish communications in one hour. Until then, President Goesel."_

"Until then, President Hayes."

The phone went silent.

This is part one of a split chapter. Sorry about the wait however there have been illness and other RL challenges that I've had to deal with.

_**Notes**_

Also note a couple of things 1). This is an official RAAB AU which Ash, the author of RAAB participates in as I do with his, so there will be a lot of similarities with said story but there are major differences as well. For example, the Race was killed off in RAAB by Ra and as such have nothing to do with Ash's story. each will branch off into its own completely although they will always be brother and sister to one another.

Next is the big challenge. Race years are twice that of a Sol year so it can get screwy when it comes to mentioning years. Sorry about that but I hope that wasn't too confusing.

Next in this semi-tongue fan fiction, the Race will be seen to speak normally to each other but when speaking to aliens, the pattern will be as Harry Turtledove intended.

Lastly, if you haven't noticed there is almost a running joke as to who is called what. For example Earthlings are called Apellai, Tau'ri, Terrans, Tosevites, Big Uglies, whatever depending on who's talking to whom at any given moment. The same for the Colonials and the Race so be prepared.

Thank you for all of your comments and reviews. I love them all and please keep them coming.

The next chapter will continue the Colonial discussions among themselves and will focus also on the internal politics of the Emperor and the Race.


	8. Chapter 7

A 'short' chapter , a continuation of the previous one. One left to go. There are some edits in chapter 6 that I've instituted.

Please enjoy.

Chapter 7

_**One day post invasion**_

_**Tau Ceti star system-Home:**_

_**Imperial Place - City of Preffilo**_

_**The Great council Hall**_

A huge Lizardian painted in silver with gold shoulders, shouted at the top of his lung and all within the room fell silent. "Males and females of the Race! Humble yourselves before the glory of the emperor!" he screamed.

And they did.

Turning swiftly as was his habit, Emperor stared at the almost four hundred pairs of eye turrets pointed in his direction. As one, all of the turrets lowered in respect. Staring with his own eye-turrets, he looked over the assembly carefully, watching for signs of disrespect for the office or himself. After a moment to satisfy regal imperialism, he sat as did his people who would now follow his every movement as they tried to glean the hidden meanings behind his every word.

High leader Ssumaz Ryssann took his place at the podium to the right of the Emperor. "I am not worthy," he began following the tradition of the First Speaker as had generations of the Race had before him, "but I have been given permission to authorize others to speak." In a loud voice he commanded, "who speaks to the ear diaphragms of the Emperor?"

"I too, am not worthy," began Ssumaz Yunnanz, the Chief Communications Specialist whose responsibility was to transmit and receive data from Home II and bring it to the emperor's ear. As good and convenient as real time communications were, here it didn't serve with four hundred or more individuals clamoring to speak at the same time. So the Chief Communications Specialist's duties also acted as a filter between Home II, the emperor, and the royal court. "But I will honor my emperor by dong my best. First are the general observations of Home II. Fleetlord Reffet complains that the Big Uglies insist on calling members of the Race the derogatory term 'mini-luggage'. He has commanded the Cylon and Tau'ri Tosevites to cease and desist but they ignore his commands and he believes that they undermine his authority. He complains that the Big Uglies are disrespectful to the members of the Race. The Big Uglies or Tosevites complain that until the Fleetlord refrains from calling them Big Uglies then the term 'mini-luggage' will continue, aimed at those members of the Race who insist on using that term. Fleetlord Atvar agrees with the Big-uh, Tosevites of various factions. Fleetlord Reffet also believes that Fleetlord Atvar does this only to undermine his authority."

There was in increase of hisses as the Lizardians talked among themselves. It was cause for excitement.

"The second batch of eggs resulting from mating season, were better protected this time on Home II. The small predators' native to Home II that have stolen and ruined so many of the first batch of eggs and hatchlings were countered by the males of the conquest fleet. Those males protected most of the eggs this season. The Big Uglies…"

We should call them Tosevites," corrected the emperor. "Antagonism is unnecessary."

Yunnanz could have cared less about antagonizing Tosevites but he lowered his eye turrets in respect. "Yes, my Emperor. The Tosevites have assisted in the protection of the eggs. They call them Gorn-like raptors. When asked to explain, the Tosevites showed the Fleetlords images of a species that looked much like the Race except smaller and extremely swift. The species on Home II are very similar except that their eyes were multifaceted like those of an indigenous Tosevite six-legged creature called an insect. The name Gorn has not been explained properly but the Race colonists on Home II have adapted the name. The Gorn raptors are aggressive egg stealers. Fleetlord Atvar has dispatched the military to hunt down and cull the creatures. Fleetlord Reffet has instituted new rules concerning the protection of eggs and hatchings to avoid further losses for the Race."

More details about life on Home II continued for another two hours to a captured audience. Finally the more serious matters came to the fore.

"The first order of business," Yunnanz continued, "is that Fleetlord Reffet petitions once more to our glorious emperor to have Fleetlord Atvar to release 'the soldier's time' for all of those males that live on Home II. He believes that since there is no need for soldiers, the Colonization fleet now holds the authority. The soldiers are needed to join the colonists as was originally intended on Tosev III. Their supplies and equipment and snouts are necessary for the survival of the colonists. Fleetlord Atvar believes that the threat to Home II is not over and will not release the males."

There was grumbling as two sides began a quiet argument.

"I am unworthy to stand in your presence, oh, Emperor," Ssumaz Gradell said as he stood hunched just enough to be respectful. The gold paint that covered three fourths of his body indicated his status. By the standards of the Race, he was royalty and his paint scheme all that saw him was aware of his stature. Few were his equal and the male was next in line to occupy the throne if anything happened to the current emperor. His political influence was very strong and there were many that followed him. "I believe that Fleetlord Atvar is correct in his actions. But, I do not believe that he should remain in control of the soldiers. He should be punished for his failure to secure Tosev III. He is therefore not worthy to continue his command the military. Although there were circumstances that made Fleetlord Atvar's mission difficult, I request that Fleetlord Reffet be given command of all of the males and females of the new colony world and Fleetlord Atvar act as his second." Lowering his eye turrets, he quickly sat down."

"Most exalted emperor, although unworthy to speak, I…"

"That will be enough with the formalities, all of you" snapped the Emperor. "If we continue this then we will be at this proceeding all day. Ssumaz Gradell, you believe that Fleetlord Atvar is unworthy to continue under his present authority. Why is this? Present your case before the Race."

Gradell stood up once more. Behind them scores of his supporters looked on in rapped attention. "I will admit that Atvar conquered a world, but it was not the world commanded by you to conquer. It was given to us by the Big Uglies," he said, ignoring the emperor's suggestion that the Tosevites not be called the derogatory term, "the creatures that forced the colonization fleet there, thousands of light years from Home. Two thousand light-years are beyond our ability to travel to in several life times even in cryosleep, even if we knew where to travel to. Atvar's failure to bring Tosev III into the embrace of the empire has brought shame to the empire and allowed a threat greater than the Race has ever known to our very door without lifting a fingerclaw to stop them. We now know of new neighbors who can bite us in the tailstump and we can not do anything against them, all because of his failure to secure the world he was supposed to."

"Your disrespect of Fleetlord Atvar is evident in every word you hiss," Tinezz Pusanda countered. Like Gradell, he was painted in gold but with one silver stripe added on his shoulder to indicate that his status just under his adversary. The Tinezz family was the second most powerful membership group on Home and Pusanda and Gradell were dedicated adversaries in the political arena. This political fight was inevitable. "The Big Uglies gave him little choice in the matter of Tosev III. He was wise to protect the males and females of both the conquest and colonizing fleet from being slaughtered in a war they could not win. Our space ships could not defend against the Tau'ri/Tosevite warships. By your argument, if you were charge in Atvar's place thousands upon thousands of our citizens would be dead and Home would be in a war with neighbors we could not hurt back."

"Only if they were speaking the truth," Gradell countered. "We only saw evidence of two ships and some Tosevites whose claims are impossible to believe and even more impossible to prove. Atvar showed cowardness in accepting the lies presented to him by the Big Uglies."

"Do you even have the brainpan to remember what the Tosevites look like?"

Males on both sides began yelling and hissing at one another.

_**Caprica:**_

_**Twelve hours before invasion**_

President Goesel paced back and forth in the Presidential office as was his habit when he was furious. Specialist on both sides were in the process of hammering out a basic treaty, eventually to be replaced with a more detailed document that would take weeks if not month to finalize judging from the heated debates he was witnessing. Initial plans for an embassy to be built on both Caprica and Appella III, or Earth as they insist on calling it, to be implemented as soon as possible, was in the works. In fact keeping open the lines of communications was a very good thing that he wholeheartedly approved of. The treaty embassy wasn't what bothered him, though.

What gulled him was the apparent lack of respect shown to him by Hayes. Goesel stopped pacing for a moment as he struggled to control his anger. He was the president of twelve worlds. Some small time leader from a world governed by fragmented government had dared order him around as if he were some type of tribal chieftain. Even worse, there was nothing he could do about it – yet. "How dare that backward world threaten us," he muttered at General Doytor and everyone else in the office.

"Sir, at this point there's little we can do. Right now they have the advantage, but you're correct. I don't like being talked down to by them. They act like they own the galaxy and I personally won't feel sorry if they're taken down."

"But we don't want them taken down," corrected Goesel. "This isn't like the teachers strike. We need these SOBs for the time being and this treaty will help keep us from fighting a war."

"A war would not being in our best interests. It would be devastating on both sides."

"There are people pushing for a conflict," the general said in disgust. "They have no idea what kind of suffering our worlds would endure."

"That's always been true," said Goesel. It was a truth he understood all too well as much of his election campaign centered on the reunification of the 'Thirteenth Tribe'. "But being president had a way of forcing one to widen his perspectives. However, it's always good to have contingency plans. As of this moment, they're simply too dangerous to confront directly, however if we can develop some type commerce with them, and slowly but surely introduce our culture to them and develop some type of trust with them. Then we may not have to fire a shot. Twelve worlds have a great deal of political and cultural influence. They could very easily be swayed to join us because of what we can offer them. And it doesn't affect our overall plans. We slowly surround them from without and plant seeds from within. And now we know that our target isn't part of their acknowledged territories. They've made it clear by omission that the system of Home is open territory. Legally, they won't be able to go to war over this and I have a suspicion that they won't, not over this. But this'll be our only chance so they'd better get it right."

Tomas Stiles wasn't so sure. "This could be the justification they're looking for," he voiced. "They could use our subjugation of the lizards and their empire as an excuse to destroy the station and the colony."

"I don't think so," Goesel said after a few seconds of thought. "They'll scream and complain and throw fits but they won't go to war over lizards that they didn't even know existed, or have a vested interest in. If they do have a vested interest, then they didn't stipulate it, in this initial treaty. No, I think we can get this done, provided that everything goes according to plan."

"Yes, sir. I sincerely hope so."

"Has Sytomia been contacted yet?"

She said that she would speak to you later this evening," Tomas said. "She was in the middle of prayers for the soldiers and their safety and could not be interrupted on this special day."

"Ah, yes she can," he corrected tersely. "Send a transport for her to bring her here immediately. If half of what Hayes said is true, then Iblison almost started a war! General Doytor use our subspace communication and contact _Makaria _and find our exactly what happened."

"Already working on it, sir."

_**Home:**_

Five hours was enough discussion concerning Home II. Most indications on the condition of the colony appeared to be positive. Home II was everything it seemed so far. The Race would do well there. But its existence clarified the problem in an all too bright light. Outwardly, Emperor Runshan remained impassive to the heated debate to the ongoing debate in the Great Council Hall. Inwardly he had secretly dreaded this moment.

Certain truths had been omitted from the official reports, reports that were considered too threatening to Home. But now the time had come to allow the truth to be fully realized by all. How this would effect Home, only the Spirits of Emperors Past would know. Home was stepping forth into a path never before encounters. It was frightening, dark, and full of treachery and one that absolutely had to be traversed if the Race as a race were to survive. He had already started down the path but did he have the strength to continue where none had walked before?

The emperor stood up and all others immediately sat. "The question always comes back to what to do with the Tosevites? They are stronger than we are. They are dangerous neighbors that we can't control (and by control, everyone understood that he meant rule over). They will bring alien ideas and thoughts that can affect us in the same why that we have taught the others in the empire. Their technology and ideas are as alien as they are and I have worked hard to keep the Tosevites and Race separated from one another. Complete avoidance was impossible and ultimately in the interests of the survival of the Race I allowed limited contact. Home II is the joint between the Cylon and Tau'ri Tosevites and Race. So far, the Tosevites of both factions seem reasonable even if they chose not to live under the rule of the Race. We can't make them because they are too strong. But they have not imposed their rules upon us and that gives me a claw-hold of comfort. The colonists of Home II have not reported many difficulties with the aliens other than the fact that they refuse to bow to our laws. But they haven't many disrespected our laws either. They choose to rule themselves and as uncomfortable as that is, we have been forced to accept it. Can we control them? The answer is no. In a few thousand years when they become truly civilized then the Future emperors will do their best to incorporate them into the empire. But they question then becomes, what will they be and what will we be? Every indication from every report leads me to believe that as impossible as their technology is, it will be even more advanced, indeed it advances like a virus, and we can't hope to keep up with them. We can hope that they destroy themselves but if they do so what happens to us? Can we go back to what we once were or are now? What if Home II is cut off from us? How will they develop? Will they remain the same or will the change? The simple answer, the answer it's always been, is the will remain the same as they have always have. That's the easy answer the answer we, the Race, want to vibrate in our ear diaphragms. But the answer is not as easy as we wish it to be. There are deep valleys along this new path we're forced to take. My eye-turrets have seen this problem coming for some time. My liver twisted with secrets that I hesitated to, but must now reveal to the assembly. There were events that none but a few members of the Race were privy to that I must now reveal."

TBC

Note: Trilic said: I have read a few of your books and enjoy them, But I am having a problem figuring out which to read first. I am now half way thru the B-5/Star trek cross over where you have Picard/Garret work with B5. Could you give me the order your stories should be read in?

Answer: So here it goes-in order.

book I

2. Evolutions Gleanings past and future

3. The Ruination Imperative

Then as a separate series I started:

1. A Universe of Change. Had nothing to do with the evolutions series –yet.

2. Those who Stand

Then I decided to get crazy to explain what was happening and how the crossovers were connected even though they weren't and wrote:

1. The Conversation

This short story connected both series.

Next:

The Ruination war-Search for V'Ger and this started to crossover into the AUOC series. It's a temp cross and was not meant to last.

Next: Allies in Blood or part three of the AUOC series.

Evolutions/Ruination series split and separated again.

ATV is a separate story unto itself and the ATV supplement is designed to deal with some of the issues that came up in ATV. Now of course I couldn't leave well enough alone so a bit of the Evolutions/Ruination story touched the ATV supplement in chapter 4 and 5 and then moved on once more separating the story again. So this is the convoluted tale and the order they are in.

The Worldwar stories are separate.

Another Perspective is separate as well.

Thank you


	9. Chapter 8

Comments and responses, people:

_**Really said: Is this another Stargate-Worldwar-Battlestar Crossover?**_

**Yes related to Worldwar: Discovering the Balance.**

_**SeraphChaos said : I really, really need to point this out, but technically when the Colonials attacked Earth back in the first story. They had effectively declared war, and in that case the Earth would've had no reason not to blow the Colonials to smithereens.**_

** Absolutely true. However, although at war, the overt declaration of war has been, shall we say brushed under the rug, so to speak. The Colonials essentially backed off and have not attacked again. Earth has no need to start another front and since they took the Colonial fleet out things are more or less simmering underneath. This is why we have the new Astorath System Lords being mentioned as they are the more immediate threat, not to mention the Lucien Alliance. The Colonials frankly don't want all out war with the Earthers yet because they are the only things standing between the Colonials and enslavement. At the same time they (politicians and religious factions) don't like the Thirteeners at all and are pushing things along. And sometimes we forget that all out war is a terrible thing.**

** Thanks for the link by the way. Both Colonials and the so called Tau'ri ( I should use Earthers here as Tau'ri is from the Goa'uld and really not worthy to be used even though I understand why here) will use nukes in a second. But the difference is that the colonials will use nukes as SOB against people. The Earthers have a slightly better level of restraint when it comes to bombing civilian targets.**

_**Strika said: It didn't. The colonials are just stupid. Either that or they ran across a Jaffa who was pissed that he was freed by primitive humans.**_

** Yes, they did. That is how they have gathered their information so far.**

_** StrikaAmaru said: "We've heard about the mercy you've extended to the free Jaffa and how your forces have tried to subjugate them," countered Goesel. **_

_** "Excuse me?' snapped Hayes, immediately becoming angry." I don't know where you get your information from but we haven't tried to subjugate anybody." **_

_** I haven't watched SG1 beyond the movie + a few episodes, so I'm going o ask a dumb question: when did this happen?**_

** It didn't. They have been lied to by a distraught Jaffa. And it sounded believable. They ran with it.**

_**TD Master said: Am I reading right that the treaty has been made? And am I reading right, that despite humanity having a mutual colony with the Race and are all but allies with the Race on Home, the treaty does not specify either world as being under the protection of Earth? That wouldn't make any sense.**_

**Home II is protected. Home is not. There is no treaty. There are only a few humans and Cylons on Home II trying to live there and understand the Race. The Race would have preferred that the Humans and Cylons didn't come but have to tolerate them because the Humans are stronger than they are and they have no choice. This isn't completely true for the leadership such as Straha, Atvar and the Emperor but their primary stance is that they are supposed to take over Earth and bring it into the Empire whether it takes two to a thousand years from now. That has not changed. Home has requested that they be left alone. There is only a communications probe there left by Earth so that they could contact Home II. They have not elected to contact Earth, not until THEY are ready. So there is no agreement or treaty, just 'we'll talk when you're ready to.'**

**Thank you for the comments and questions I hope that I answered them to your satisfaction so far. Please note that I wanted to add more to this but real life is in control so I posted this for now. More is upcoming hopefully within the next two weeks. Don't forget that is is in parallel to Bob's story RAAB. And he is working on the next chapter so please be patient with us. Thank you.  
**

**On with the story!  
**

_**Chapter 8 **_

"_**Conquest"**_

_**Tau Ceti star system-Home:**_

The Tau Ceti star system called by the natives the Home system, when compared to the Sol system was filled with ships which wasn't surprising considering that the Race had been a space dwelling species for more than fifty thousand years as measured by Earth. They had close to two thousand space-going vessels. The Empire of the Race boasted two additional alien species that had been conquered and incorporated so completely that the average member of the Race would have not even imagined such a concept as rebellion coming from said species.

Of course, all was not perfect and the leadership of the Race was well aware of this. Foremost the government of the Race was an empire and they made sure that their empire remained secured. Although the Hallessi and Rabotev were full members of the empire, being granted equal rights, and had been part of the Race's imperial arm for so long that neither species could imagine things otherwise, there were certain things that they could not be. For example, they could not be part of the military. Neither species could travel across the stars without permission of the Race. Their own cultures had been completely subverted by the Race, literally dismantled and replaced by the culture and traditions of the Lizardians. Despite the obvious turmoil of having their culture, identities and freedom to make their own destiny torn from them, both the Rabotev and Halless species lived together peacefully under the watchful eyes of the Race for close to fifty thousand years. Rarely had there ever been any discord between the three species – until recently with the discovery of the Tosevites and their insane ways of doing things that the Race had never approved of.

True, the far, far, far majority of the Race had never even seen a Human /Tosevite before. Honestly, most members of the Race couldn't tell the difference between the alien Rabotev and Hallessi so initially when the Tosevites, under the name of the Human Tau'ri arrived at Home, many times they were actually mistaken for a Rabotev which of course looked nothing like Humans. Plus, the visitors weren't submissive or subjected to the Race which pissed off and horrified the livers of a lot of the less educated Lizardians who had trouble understanding the concept.

Nevertheless, dozens of Race citizens found the Humans an interesting if mystifying species to exchange ideas with. The numbers were few that had interacted with the Humans but the encounters had spread far and wide though news broadcasts and gossip channels as the Lizardians were just as bad as Humanity when it came to entertainment even though their imagination was somewhat lacking as compared to Humanity. But in contrast, it was that very lack of imagination that was one of the major cornerstone of the differences between the though processes of the Race and Humanity.

Humans asked the questions 'why did it work and how can I improve it?' The Race asked 'how it works and if it works, how can I keep it working the same way?' So the Race made products that were disgustingly reliable and once perfected, never really changed because there was no need to change. Once perfected, that was it. The Race's sub-light ships had served them well. It was the same with their space ships from the time of the first expedition to conquer an alien species to the time they attempted to make the Humans of Earth another vassal of the Race. Those ship designs worked the first and the second times with only incremental changes made to the massive bulk ships. It should have worked with the Tosevites but they proved to be an anomaly that the Race simply put, wasn't prepared for.

Two things (among the dozens if not hundreds of things which hadn't yet been discovered by the race yet) the Tosevites possessed had truly shocked the Race. The first was faster than light capable ships. The second was faster than light communications. A hundred thousand of years earlier, Race scientists proved that it was impossible to travel or communicate faster than the speed of light. That was the end of any more study on the subject. In retrospect, this was a positive thing for the overall survival of the Race with Ra being so close. Any real innovations would have resulted in genocide for their species by the supreme Goa'uld supreme Lord.

This utter confidence in their conclusions was coming back to bite them on their tail-stumps in a way that would hurt every member of their species. Shortly, they would discover to their horror that someone was coming to conquer them, in fact were already in their home system. Because of the Race's lack of FTL communications or sensors, that little fact wasn't discovered for nearly thirty hours when they started losing contact with outbound ships heading for the Rabotev system.

Frantic warnings transmitted via radio frequency could travel only so fast.

As it was, an outgoing ship of the Race, on the first leg of its twenty year journey to the Epsilon Eridani star system encountered its first hostile contact some forty days out from the fifth planet of the Home system. The huge vessel named the _68__th__ Emperor Teponev, _sensors detected energy discharges of an unusual nature. Most of the crew which consisted of members of the Race and some Hallessi were in cryosleep, however a skeleton crew making final checks before they too would go to their sleep chambers panicked when vector systems started hissing for attention. An object appearing from nowhere was in the way of the ship's flight path moving fast enough so that auto systems couldn't react in time to compensate to avoid it. Collision was imminent and a desperate bridge crew struggled to identify the object closing in on their position. Antennas were realigned and emergency transmissions were squirted towards Home informing them of the emergency. There would be nothing that Home could do but they would at least know what would what happened to the ship. Two minutes later the ship's long-ranged radar was blanketed with electronic interference powerful enough to affectively shut the long-range detection systems down making the ship effectively blind. Short range was still working and the Lizardians now detected several smaller objects vectoring in on his ship at an even higher rate of speed. The commander of the ship overrode the navigational computer moved the ship out of the way – except it didn't work. The huge ship had all the grace of a Race turtlelette digging through hardened sand. By this time the commander determined that the incoming objects were artificial in nature. Although this rational was clearly impossible it was the only thing that made sense according to the incoming data. The Race had nothing that could move as fast as those objects and it took a few moments to remember that there were other aliens out here that had superior technology. But even as he thought of that, in his liver he didn't really believe it. A hundred thousand years of being on the top of the food chain wouldn't allow him to do so…

…That was until he heard the transmissions being beamed directly at his ship. SR radar tracked the objects as they went narrowly missed his bulk freighter at nearly seventh of lightspeed. The incoming objects did the impossible and turning to towards his ship once more on an intercept course.

The narrow beam transmission was clear. "_Attention vessel_," the voice said in understandable but somehow mushy Race. "_This is the Colonial destroyer _Ares Seven. _You are now subjects of the government of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. Adjust your trajectory and return to Home orbit. If you do not you will be fired upon and your ship will be destroyed."_

"To unknown transmission, this is the _68__th__ Emperor Teponev," _responded a very terrified commander. "We have never heard of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. You are interfering with the property and the commands of the Race. We have been tasked to take this ship to its destination and we will do so."

"_Commander of the_ 68th Emperor Teponev_, your Emperor is no longer the leader of Home. We are taking Home, You will proceed to change trajectory towards Home or you will be destroyed."_

"Who are you to dare to give orders to the Race?" the commander asked. He was terrified as all of those truths and rumors he'd heard but never truly believed despite the evidence that clashed with what he knew to be true. "Are you Tosevites?" he dared to ask.

"_No, we are Kobolians,"_ the mushy voice said, which did nothing to clear up the mystery. _"Redirect your vessel or it will be destroyed. You have thirty minutes to begin procedures or we will have no choice but to fire on your vessel. You will be responsible for the loss of lives and property of your 'former' Emperor.'_

Again SR radar tracked several small objects moving faster than his ships could ever hope to do now in front of his ship moving relative to his. 'Space-capable killer craft he realized with a start. Thirty thousand members of the Race and Hallessi lives in cold sleep depended on his next action.

"I will do as you say," he relented. "But remember that the Race will not forget this and you will be severely punished."

"_Turn your ship around."_

"For the safety of the males and females under my responsibility, we will comply."

The huge transport began to decelerate as made its wide turn to head back towards Home, under the watchful eye of the Colonial destroyer. Throughout the system and beyond this process was being repeated while the main fleet of forty Battlestars jumped deep into the system.

_**Warstar **__**Poseidon C&C:**_

The unsettling feeling of Colonial jump dissipated immediately.

"Status," demanded Westergyne.

"Sir, jump complete. All ships accounted for. Threat board clear. Reading two hundred ships, twelve space stations and twenty six dry docks, all civilian. No radiologics on any of the alien ships within range."

Admiral Hensen Westergyne stepped over to DRADIS station to confirm what his officers were telling him. Intel from the alien prisoners gleaned over the last three years was confirmed in that moment. This so-called empire had absolutely zero defenses.

Colonial scientists, xeno-socialists and theorists (new fields just in its infancy), along with several theologians, had explored Race language, culture and social structure as thoroughly as they could with the captured prisoners and computer data. Language structure and comprehension had been established surprisingly quickly and that had to do with the social structure of the members of the Race. Once they were prisoners, they cooperated totally and completely. As rudimentary communications between the two improved, the Colonial's understanding of the Race proceeded quickly. The valuable prisoners were treated surprisingly well considering time constraints and the alien nature of their species in the eyes of the Colonials. Tactical and social structures of the Race were considered priorities.

After two years of interrogation, Colonial experts agreed on several things. First was the fact that the Race was an aggressive imperialistic species that went conquering its neighbors.

Second (and every Colonial agreed that this was strange), the Race expected those they conquered to remain conquered – forever. The concept of rebellion of conquered species hadn't even entered their minds – at least this was the official line. This theory was up to debate since what little the Colonials did know of the other species indicated that they were subjected to a few more restrictions than native members so they couldn't be completely unwary of possible rebellion against their authorities.

Third, they believed that they were the center of the universe, the top of the food chain; the most advanced species in the galaxy if not universe. Nothing in their more than one hundred thousand years of experience had shown them otherwise.

Fourth, they had planned to conquer another species called Tosevites but little to nothing was known by the prisoners of that species.

Fifth, since they had never seen anyone more advanced than themselves, they therefore had no spaceborne weapons platforms to protect their planet from invasion by other forces and since Home was peacefully; only police forces had weapons of any sort. This was apparently true on the conquered worlds as well, with the initial military forces long since absorbed into the civilian forces with no thought of the keeping even token forces active just in case maintaining order might be needed. All reports were the same – this empire was a bureaucracy unmatched by anything imagined by the Colonials.

"All DRADIS to maximum. Launch all Vipers and Raptors I want a screen around our ships. All other fighters secure orbit around the planet. I want six of our Gunstars to support them. All orbital structures are to be captured, not destroyed."

High Priest Iblison, dressed in the finest purple, red and blue of his station glared at the Admiral with distain. "I fail to see why you're being so cautious," he said while playing with his fingernails. "They have no defenses and they can't possibly hurt us. This cautious approach only serves to delay our victory."

Westergyne had to suppress the urge to thrown the man off of his bridge. The longer he was in Iblison's presence the more he hated the man. "We made that assumption once before when we went after Earth," he said in barely restrained fury. "We paid for that arrogance in blood. I will not make that assumption again. We will proceed in caution. If the Tau'ri are aware of the Race, then we could well be moving into a trap."

"The Apellai, not Tau'ri, not Earthers," Iblison corrected slowly as if explaining himself to a slightly dense child," have no idea what we're doing and legally they have no jurisdiction. The Race has no armaments that can hurt us and they can do nothing to stop us. I would suggest that you hasten your efforts, Admiral. We wouldn't want the people under your command to believe that you were being unduly cautious, don't you think?"

The crew was studiously monitoring their stations while their admiral struggled to keep from shooting his superior right there on the bridge in front of everyone. "I will not compromise this operation because you want us to rush it. This phase of the operation is proceeding according to schedule and I won't change it unless circumstances dictate otherwise."

Iblison smiled. "I meant no disrespect, he said in a manner that indicated that the opposite was true. "But I suggest that if the Apellai are coming, then we should take control of the system as soon as possible."

Westergyne was frozen in place for the merest instant. That was the one fear that haunted everyone in this entire operation because if the Earthers did find out what was happening and tried to stop them, the fleet wouldn't stand a chance, treaty or not. Like it or not, the plan depended on speed in obtaining the objective.

"All assault transports. Proceed to your objectives. I want control of all stations and docks within the next two hours. Resistance should be minimal, but take no chances. No unnecessary killing."

Again Iblison frowned. "Perhaps we should use our nuclear ordinance to destroy one of the space docks, or maybe a city to make sure that the Race understands the inevitability of the situation they are now facing and to facilitate our control?" He smiled grandiosely. "Their ancestors will not come to save them so we should make them aware of this. The destruction of one of their cities would easily clarify the matter."

"No nuclear strikes unless it's necessary," the Admiral snapped. "Let's get this over with. Transmit the massage now."

"I agree. It's time," Iblison added.

"_We are the Colonials of Kobol,"_ the broadcasted message said in slurred Race_. _Every Race satellite received and transmitted the message to Home. Every member of Home who had radio or video activated heard the message at the same time. "_The Race will surrender unconditionally. The empire of the Race is now under our jurisdiction and our control. You are now submit to the authority of the Colonials of Kobol or you will be destroyed. Any resistance is futile and punishment will be harsh. Your emperor and your government officials will submit to us. We are in control. We are the Colonials of Kobol…"_

_**Space station 13**__**th**__** Emperor Meadlle:**_

"_We are the Colonials of Kobol…" _the message repeated.

"Oh, the horror!" Stationlord Eshune screamed.

Despite being the station master, the male was as terrified as those under his command. Those crew members that weren't frozen in fear were skittering mindlessly around attempting to understand what was truly happening. This event was completely new to their experience and training and they were not taking it well.

What was happening before him had never been imagined in his worst nightmares. More than forty huge, ugly alien ships of war (and that's what they were, knowing this in the depths of his liver, even though he'd never seen a warship like those before) were heading directly towards him, surrounded by space-capable killercraft that were, according to radar was coming at his station faster than any ship he'd ever seen. The Lizardian crews in the command and control sectors were so close to panicking that Stationlord Eshune was at a lost, being ready to panic himself.

The space station _13__th__ Emperor Meadlle_ the newest of twelve civilian orbital ports in service for the last four hundred and thirty seven years had no defenses whatsoever. The station had faithfully served its function as a transit waypoint for the tens and tens of thousands of members of the Race both military and civilian on their way to the long-ranged transports of both the conquest and colonization fleets. Situated six hundred miles above the surface of Home, it now made for an inviting target.

"Stationlord, what are we to do?" Command Sectionlord Tyss wailed. "Why have the ancestors of the Emperor's pass allowed such a thing? What are we to do?"

"I don't know!" Eshune wailed back. That phrase, he realized later, was probably the last thing he should have screamed out loud as the last of what little control he maintained over his crew evaporated.

"Why would someone try to conquer the Race?" Tyss screamed as he floated back towards the now abandoned radar post. Small signals were rapidly converging toward not only his but all of the stations in orbit. Larger blips were following from behind quickly.

A few seconds later, the Stationlord had floated alongside, next to him. The thought had occurred to him. "It could be the Tosevites," he said more to himself than to his subordinate. Like so many others, he had heard of the Tosevite ship that had visited several years ago, but hadn't actually seen the ship. Even though he had been briefed, he barely believed what he had seen. Every liver cell in his body believed it to be a fabrication. No one could be more powerful or advanced than the Race. It was almost beyond comprehension.

"These creatures that dare to threaten the Race called themselves Colonies of kombal or something, not Tosevites," Tyss growled. His fear was turning to righteous anger now.

"The Emperor said that there were others out here, but in my liver, I did not truly believe." He turned half running, half floating towards the communications section. "The ships under our care need traffic control." They need to be made aware of the situation so they do not act without orders. It's our responsibility to do our duty, no matter what the current situation is."

"You are right, Stationlord."

"Get the others," he hissed. "We must perform our duty to the best of our ability."

"Yes. We should not fear. The Emperor will save us."

Sixty-seven Colonial vipers made their first pass of the station, flying full throttle in evasive pattern three. Two squadrons of Raptors followed closely in their wakes.

"This is _Janus Lead_ to _Poseidon actual_," James 'war sprite' Collious said. "Confirmed. The station has no defenses. No weapons ports are visible. No missile tubes and no radiologics other than power sources."

He and his fighter-mates passed the huge station in a blur. He barely saw it but what he did see was distinctively alien in nature. The station was designed as a series of huge cube and rectangle shapes connected together by large tubules. Part of the structure rotated along specific axis points probably to simulate gravity since report indicated that they'd never discovered how to generate artificial gravity. There were ships docked near the edges, huge lumbering ones. Although alien in nature, they weren't that much different than the pre-light speed freighters that the Colonials of old had used before jumping had become common place. Those ships took months to years just to travel though the system. They were also completely defenses, making James shake his head is dismay. These aliens had no concept of defense as far as he could see. Of course that made sense, since they had no concept of other species that could be their equals, so defense was a mote point to them. It was kind of sad, innocent really.

Poseidon Actual_ to _Janus Lead_. Understood. Do not fire on the station unless there is resistance to the incoming marines. We want causalities as light as possible."_

"Acknowledged." This was going to be a boring sortie, he surmised. That was what the briefing said and so far Intel had been correct which was fine by him. Of course, no battle plan remained untouched and the giant monster lurking in the closet were the Tau'ri. If they knew about this, everyone from the Admirals to the cooks was predicting a bloodbath. No, it wasn't these lizard creatures that were the problem, but the Thirteenth tribe, one fracken world; one death sentence if they arrived in the system before this was over.

"Janus Seventeen_ to _Janus Lead_, we have incoming. Vector one twenty by two sixteen by five. Thirty-sex kilometers per second. Radiologics detected."_

"Got it. Do a visual. Do not engage unless fired upon."

Raptor Seventeen turned and performed a fast intercept close enough to get a tactical visual. Race short-ranged radar could barely track the fast moving Colonial fighter.

"_Looks like four shuttles with a pair of wing-tip missiles each. Maneuverability is minimal. Proceed with caution." _

This would be no challenge at all, War sprite thought. Old-style civilian shuttles were faster than these things coming in. His viper could outrun the missiles easily if what his sensors were telling him was accurate. But to be on the safe side, he stayed just on the outside of the predicted enemy missile's capability. Radiation poisoning wasn't something that he wanted to experience as had so many of his comrades during that stupid assault on the Thirteenth Tribe's world. Plus anyone shot down by one of those primitive missiles would never live it down if they survived.

"_Janus Lead_ to _Poseidon actual, p_roceeding to intercept. _Janus Two_ and _Three_, follow me in. If they fire, destroy with prejudice."

"_Yes, sir."_

"_On your tail, sir."_

_The three vipers peeled off of formation and vectored towards the Race combat shuttle. _

Senior shuttle pilot Teek and his co-pilot, second shuttle pilot Kunsip were, to put it simply, terrified. Here they were piloting a police shuttle with two wing-tip explosive metal missiles already armed and tracking objects that moved faster than they could. The training is space combat and missile launches such as they were didn't begin to fill them with confidence. It had simply never been done before and the training had been to put it bluntly sparse to, in Teek's mind, nonexistent. Nothing could prepare them for what was happening. Strange creatures from another empire were flying space capable killercraft that were able to move faster than anything he'd ever imagined and worse, they were coming for him! He was a police shuttle pilot, not really trained for alien invasion. What was his responsibility in the absence of orders? Home Command hadn't issued any orders except one – defend Home?

"How?" he wailed.

"We have explosive metal missiles," said Kunsip, seemingly able to read his superior's mind. "If we fire them, the aliens will understand that Home will use everything at its disposable to repel them. It will make them cautious when approaching Home!"

'And what addled egg did you hatch from!' he wanted to retort. But his subordinate was correct. These aliens needed to know that Home would not fall without a fight. If only they had weapons and lizard power to fight back with. Everything useful had gone on that addled journey to conquer Tosev III. No one had even imagined that someone would come to conquer Home.

It –it was Home!

It wasn't right!

"Inform Home we are firing our explosive metal missiles on the largest enemy target," Teek said with a hiss of finality, the target being the _Poseidon. "_May all of the spirits of Emperors past protect us."

All four shuttles began accelerating towards the Warstar _Poseidon_ at their maximum speed of eight-two KPS.

_**Poseidon C&C**_

"Could you repeat that?" Admiral Westergyne asked after he gained his composure.

"Yes, sir," the DRADIS operator said. "The enemy shuttles are making a run for the _Poseidon_. Their missiles are prepped."

"How long before they get here provided that they get through our fighter screen and escorts?"

"Twenty-five minutes, sir."

"How long before viper intercept?"

"At full burn, eight seconds. Sir, they have to know that they don't have a chance of getting through."

"Have to give them credit for bravery," the Admiral said.

"Yes," Iblison murmured. "They will be useful in the defense of the colonies," the man said, referring to the overall tenacity of the Race and not the individuals hurtling to their deaths in a suicide mission that had absolutely no chance of success. He turned slowly. "Admiral, opposition cannot be tolerated. Destroy them."

"High priest," and the Admiral was impressed by his ability to keep a straight face as he used the honorific, "these pilots may prove to be useful in the future."

"The leadership must be made to understand that resistance is futile and will be crushed if it manifests itself in any form. If we allow these ships to fire, our soldiers and personnel on the ground will be under increased threat. You've already given the order to destroy them. There is no reason to countermand what we know is correct."

"Order the vipers to destroy the incoming shuttles. Clear them from my space. The raptors are to proceed with to the planet. EMP bursts are a go. Repeat, EMP bursts are a go.


	10. Chapter 9

_**Chapter Nine**_

_**Invasion by the Things **_

_**Imperial Place - City of Preffilo**_

_**The Great council Hall**_

"Honored Emperor, what do you mean there are hundreds of alien worlds filled with life forms as technologically advanced as we?" asked Ssumaz Gradell. The very concept was confusing to him and he simply couldn't wrap his head around it. The very idea was absurd, even ridiculous; however it would not do to say something like that directly at the snout of the Emperor. Instead of speaking immediately he chose the words carefully so that they were presented as respectful as possible. It was well known that the Emperor always spoke the truth, even if what he said was impossible to believe. "I understand that the universe is vast, but we…"

Before the Lizardian could continue, decorum was completely obliterated as the power throughout the Imperial complex died which was something unheard of since the power grid was developed over three thousand years ago. It came as a shock, one huge enough to cause immediate panic in the court. At the same time, decorum was then buried as two guards pushed opened the doors hissing in alarm.

Emperor Runshan was momentarily frozen by the event occurring around him, however he recovered quickly.

"My most exalted Emperor," one of the guards hissed loudly. He was so stressed that he barely lowered his eye turrets in deference thereby declaring the utmost urgency of the matter. "At least two metal explosive bombs have been detonated in the lower orbit of Home!"

"By the souls of Emperors past!" yelled Tinezz Pusanda. "An electro-magnetic pulse is the reason why we have lost power. The entire city is affected! How could this have happened? Who would dare to do such a thing?"

The Emperor was already moving towards one of the huge windows trying to see for himself what was happening in the sky. Behind him the entire court followed crowding behind him.

"Have the Tosevites attacked us? Have they broken their arrangement with us?"

"Who else could it be?" asked one of the members of the Royal family. "It has to be the Big Uglies that attack us."

He turned to his trusted adjutant. "Find out the reason why such a thing has occurred immediately!"

"Yes, Emperor," High Leader Ssumaz Ryssann immediately responded.

The aged male member of the Race had barely turned around when the most horrible of news reached them. Another guard rushed in. He froze when he saw the Emperor.

"I am not worthy," the male stammered.

"No, you're not," agreed the Emperor as fast as decorum allowed. "But tell me the news and quickly!"

"Home is being invaded by aliens!" he wailed, "tall, frightening, aliens!"

At that very instant, every nightmare of the last three years crystallized in the liver of Runshan. Invasion of Home! As impossible as it seemed, the claw supports were on the other foot now. Home had invaded others believing themselves to be the supreme power. Then Home discovered that there were other more dangerous things out there than it could have imagined and now Home itself was being invaded, or so he was being told. It had to be the truth but it also had to be verified.

"Quickly," he ordered to no one in particular, "find out what's happening. Are our space stations under attack? Have they been wrecked? How badly are our communications damaged? Are there aliens setting claws and feet on the surface of Home?"

"It shall be done," one of the guards said as he quickly skittered from the council room being followed by several high ranking officials.

Two more huge flashes of light signaling the detonation of more nuclear weapons illuminated the skies over Home. Was it true? Had a conquest fleet of creatures come to conquer Home?

To Ssumaz Yunnanz, he ordered: "I understand that electromagnetic bursts do not interfere with the probe that communicates with Home II. Find out if it is still functioning. We may have need of it!"

"It shall be done!" And he was gone.

"Is it the Big Uglies?" someone in the court asked? "Could it be them? Have they deceived us?"

Logically, it didn't make sense that the Tosevites would attack Home although no one could yet understand the alien mindsets. They were too much of an unknown factor and again the word 'alien' seemed the perfect way to describe them. Could they be the ones attacking Home, or was it some faction of the Tosevites that decided that Home was perfect for conquest? If it were the Tosevites then why would they freely offer Home II and then attack Home? The points didn't connect and he hadn't enough data to confirm or deny any of his theories at this point but his liver seemed to have settled on an opinion. After a moment's thought, the Emperor answered. "I do not believe that the Tosevites would do this, but we must verify and do so quickly."

The Emperor gazed at a sight he had never seen before and he was frightened as never before. The city of Preffilo was completely dark_. _As far as he could see there was no power anywhere as emergency lighting had not yet activated. But, the sound of fear rising up from the city was unmistakable. Everywhere males and females of the Race were on the verge of panic. This was something unprecedented and new, and the people of Home didn't do 'new' well.

_**CDF Poseidon C&C**_

"_Janus Lead to Poseidon Actual. Attack shuttles have been destroyed. They were not in range to fire their weapons. Repeat threat has been neutralized."_

"Acknowledged. Continue sweep. Do not engage unless fired upon."

"_Threat board is clean. No resistance."_

"Acknowledged. Continue sweep. There may be a possibly of Tau'ri ships in the area. If you come in contact with one of them, do not fire unless fired upon. Repeat, if Tau'ri are encountered, do not fire unless fired upon."

"_Do not fire unless fired upon. Acknowledged."_

As Ibison listened, his smile grew wider. He looked positively gleeful. The longer the Apellai remained ignorant, the better for everyone involved. "I must confess that this operation is proceeding better than I anticipated. But, I must also insist that you use the correct name. They are not 'the Tau'ri'. That is the name given to them by their slave masters that they have adapted in their own ignorance. They should be called by their proper Colonial name, because that is who they are whether they believe it to be true or not." Looking at the admiral, he shook his head. "It appears that the Apellai have no clue that we're here and in another few hours, it will be too late for them to do anything about it."

At that moment, Admiral Westergyne wanted to slap him. Correction, he wanted to shoot him, with prejudice, and then throw the rotten carcass out into the depths of space.

Of course, neither he nor anyone in his command would dare utter something as stupid as that out loud. It simply begged that forever cursed god of misfortune to do something just to prove said individual wrong. This tri-operation was far more dangerous than the priest assumed. Three planetary systems were being invaded simultaneously. The entire of the Race had to be subjugated before the Tau'ri found out what the CF was doing in their back yard.

The admiral felt the chill run down his spine that had nothing to do with the air-conditioning on the bridge. If this act wasn't a provocation for triggering a war, he didn't know what was. The Earther people would not take this well just as the Colonials would not take it well if this was happening in their backyard.

"No space-borne threats detected," Lieutenant Corann announced as he continued to scrutinize the incoming data. "All alien stations have been pacified and our troops are establishing control. Alien dry docks are being boarded. Minimal resistance, no casualties. EM pulse effective, Admiral. Ten percent of the planet is dark. Vipers and Raptor squadrons are in atmosphere, no resistance."

Another systems analysis broke in. "Sir, I'm not registering any increase in encoded communications. We have no increase in space or aircraft designated as military," he told the admiral in awe. The bridge went quiet. "Sir, there's nothing there, no defensive response. Raptors and probe scans…I don't see threats anywhere," she reported. "They have nothing protecting their planet."

So, it was true, thought Iblison. Even he hadn't fully believed that the Race Empire had no planetary or homeland defenses. These lizards really were alien in their thought processes and that almost made him feel sorry for them, however he ruthless smashed any sympathy he had for them back into the depths of his soul. They were after all, to his mind animals, nothing more and nothing less and were to be treated as such.

"What about the civilian aircraft?" asked Iblison. The way he inflected the word 'civilian' was some small indication of how contemptuous he really was about the aliens. His inflection was something that the General hadn't missed. "Are they still flying?"

"Yes, sir. DRADIS reports close to fifteen thousand aircraft are in the air. The EMP affected region has caused multiple crashes. The others are continuing towards their destinations at an accelerated pace. Most are attempting to land as quickly as possible on airfields around the globe."

"Communications?"

"Our translator computrons indicate that there is widespread traffic across the planet, most of it panicked at seeing our Vipers and Raptors. Civilian communications has decreased significantly in the last half hour, likely due to the EMP bursts in targeted areas. What little I am hearing seems confused. They have no idea what was happening, sir."

"As they should be," Iblison said. "Transmit to the creatures that we want all of their crafted landed within the hour. If they don't comply then they will be fired upon and destroyed. They will be made to understand that we are in control."

"Pontiff Iblison," Admiral said. "We're not in full control yet and those are civilian transports. I will order them not to attempt any additional takeoffs. If they do then they will be fired upon. At this point they '_are'_ attempting to land as quickly as possible. I will not have our fire on them and I will give them time to land to keep causalities as low as possible."

The pontiff sighed heavily, looking at the Admiral with something akin to pity. The man was such a weakling, and he didn't have the backbone to do what was necessary. However, for the time being he had to tolerate man. The time would soon come however when the Admiral would no longer be necessary.

"As you wish," smiled the Pontiff. "May I ask when will we begin to land our troops on our new colony?"

"Our advanced recon is on their way now. If all goes according to plan, then the Emperor should be apprehended within the hour."

"Excellent. It is a blessed thing when the gods are with us."

The admiral fought hard not to grind his teeth to powder.

_**Imperial Place - City of Preffilo**_

Ssumaz Gradell was frightened, like any normal member of the Race should be.

What was happening was unprecedented. The glorious shell of the universe had just crystallized to become a frightening, much smaller place. Nothing like this had ever happened to Home before and he couldn't have imagined that a possible invasion by alien creatures just a few years earlier. But his perception had changed forever when those big, ugly Tosevites had arrived in their spaceship that defied all logic. That event had been the beginning of his nightmares and like most members of the race, he blamed Fleetlord Atvar for that debacle. If the Fleetlord had simply conquered Tosev III like he was supposed to then none of this would have happened. At least that had been was his initial thinking. Later as he pored over the reports, he began to see the future scribbling in the sands of time. If the Tosevites could come to Home with a space ship filled with technology that the Race couldn't hope to match, then sooner or later someone else might do the same thing. If that were to conceivably happen at Home then what would the Race do? How would they respond?

His first thought was that the Emperor would know what to do. His second thought was that the Emperor was very likely pondering the exact same question as things walked the streets of Home. However the Emperor had many challenges that he had to deal with, so Gradell began to plan for such a scenario. If nothing else, the Race could not end up like the Rabotev and the Hallessi worlds, subjected to another Empire. This would never happen in his lifetime of course but as much as he hated it, the future of the Race had changed.

He still blamed Atvar years later, but he slowly acknowledged that the Fleetlord couldn't have done anything else. Although the events had forced him to think of the unimaginable, Gradell praised the spirits of Emperors past that he had an idea of what to do, which essentially amounted to the same thing that the Rabotevs and Hallassis had tried to do when the Race came to civilize them.

"My Emperor," he hissed violently. "The enemy conquest fleet will send soldiers to capture you. But," and this is where inspiration struck, "you must change your Imperial paint into something that will not identify you as the Emperor!"

"Are you insane?" screeched Tinezz Pusanda. "He is the Emperor! He changes his status for no creature!"

"With all due respect to the Emperor, the creatures coming to this very palace will not care if he is the ruler of Home. But they will care that he is the Emperor and will try to capture him, make him prisoner so that we will be forced to obey everything that these creatures will demand. The Emperor '_is'_ Home! They could have destroyed us with an explosive metal bomb, but they merely destroyed most of our communications. My Emperor, we must take the chance that they will not know who or what you look like without your body paint to identify them to you. I strongly suggest that for the sake of Home you change your Imperial paint to something insignificant so that we may have a chance to save you and not lose all of Home in a single attack."

"He is the Emperor! He is to be respected by everybody. He would not change his body paint!"

"The imperial palace is isolated from the rest of the city," Gradell hissed quickly. He had to make the members of the court understand before it was too late. "It has been the protection for the Emperor and the court for a hundred thousand years. But, that isolation is now a danger to us. The power is off. We are helpless. The enemy can and will cut us off and capture us all. The Emperor must be protected and removed from the palace and the city as soon as possible." He pointed in the direction of the doors. "They will be coming soon! They must if they desire to complete the conquest of Home."

"The point is worth considering and quickly," said High leader Ssumaz Ryssann.

"Wait! In order for this to work, another one will also have to where the paint of the Emperor."

"But that is treason to impersonate the Emperor! It cannot be allowed."

"But it must before the Emperor is subjected to the creatures coming here to capture him," countered Gradell.

"Ssumaz Gradell, you covet the throne with too much enthusiasm. Is this yet another trick to gain the throne?"

"Are you addled? My loyalty is to the Emperor! Hurry, we must save him if we are to remain free."

"Darkness was the enemy of the Race," whispered the Emperor. It was an instinctual enemy feared by the Lizardians long before they discovered the ability to reason. There were predators on Home still, willing to dismember and kill in the darkness where civilized eyes could not see. The Race instinctually huddled together for protection then as now. Here was yet another type of darkness, that of the unknown and the Race was again trying to huddle together. Politics was safe compared to what was coming for them now. Gradell was correct in his analysis. If the creatures wanted quick and efficient control of Home, then how best to achieve that goal than by capturing him? What chance would Home have then?

He already knew the answer.

_None whatsoever._

"I have decided," Emperor Runshan said, silencing them all. "Ssumaz Gradell's plan is accepted. If Home is to resist, then we must do as he suggests and it has to be done now."

"It shall be done." announced Ssumaz Ryssan, speaker for the Emperor.

The old lizard wasted no time in doing exactly what the Emperor ordered.

_**Combat shuttle Twenty-nine**_

_**Lead One of Operation Peitho:**_

"Target area confirmed, Lieutenant," the pilot of _Lead One_ said. "ETA, six minutes, thirty seconds."

"The operation is a go," said twenty-five year-old Lieutenant Areson. "Feet on the ground in six minutes. Target is to be captured intact. Resistance by any other than the target is to be considered hostile and treated accordingly. Follow your training and we will achieve our objectives." A course of 'yes, sir', greeted his ears. The men and women under his command sounded eager and he was pleased and proud of them all. They were about to make history.

The _Hermes_ recon team was the most experienced in the Colonial defense force at what they did. Snatch and grab was the team's specialty. For years they'd train for Operation _Python _– the acquiring of certain authority figures located on Earth but the action was never authorized. It was considered too risky given the Apellai colony's capability to respond with extraordinary heavy weapons. If any of the Colonials were caught, the Colonies would be held responsible and there was no telling what those savages would do. Their attitudes and possible response were just too unpredictable when it came to planetary disputes. They didn't understand what war was and how it was to be prosecuted. You fought and if you won it was over. If you lost then it was over. But the Apellai were crazy. They couldn't even decide on a proper name for themselves. Calling their planet Earth and themselves Earthlings was beyond stupid. It was like calling their planet 'Dirt'.

'Hi. We come from the planet 'Dirt'."

How embarrassing.

So was the name Tau'ri, or did they mean Taurus? That was wrong, too. They were a part of the Apellai system and should have remembered that when they left Kobol. But the fact that they left last was probably the clue as to why they had forgotten their heritage. If they were the poor ones, the ignorant and uneducated on those last colony ships then it would make sense that they had forgotten just about everything. The Quorum and the High Priests agreed on that. They didn't retain the knowledge to remember who they were and apparently didn't care about their brethren. If they had, then the colonies would already be united by now.

They were a bunch of savages.

From what he understood, the Apellai didn't even believe in limited warfare. Every bit of data confirmed the belief that if you nuked them for whatever reason and they nuked you back, it wasn't over. It would be just the beginning, and no one in the Quorum was stupid enough to light that kind of fire. Every intelligence report suggested that if a Colonial incursion was serious enough, then the Apellai might response by blowing up Picon or some such nonsense. It had been a miracle from the gods that the Thirteeners hadn't went to war with the Colonies years ago after that cluster-frack of an attack by Admiral Cain and _Pegasus_; and scuttlebutt hinted that the only reason why they hadn't was that they were too busy fighting with someone else to bother with the Colonies, thank the gods.

However the whole incident indicated just how dangerous they were and the extreme need for them to be pacified. Half the colonies wanted nothing to do with them and the other half wanted to nuke the whole planet and get rid of the problem once and for all. But that would cause a whole new set of problems because as bad as the Earthers were, there were others out there that were worse.

As much has he hated it, Earth had to survive if the Colonies were to have a chance. The CF needed the technology that the Earthers so casually threw around. They needed the knowledge and most of all those stargates, the true secret of freedom and defense and at the same time the greatest threat to the Colonies ever known.

The Apellai would never give the Colonials the information on gate travel, not with their arrogant attitudes which is why the President had ordered feasibility studies on procedures as to how to successfully penetrate the Thirteeners planetary defenses and get deep cover insertion teams to Earth. The biggest problem remained how to get those teams to Earth given their abilities to detect any Colonial ship, stealth or not, within several light years of their home system – if they were searching. It was a big galaxy out there and the Thirteenth, like the colony worlds were – small. Hopefully the techs who discovered the Goa'uld cloaking systems could figure a way to back-engineer it into a practical working piece of tech.

Then Apellai, watch out. The billions on Earth would then raise up as one nation and throw off the oppressive Tau'ri overlords and rejoin their Colonial brethren and together they would all begin their quest to unite their Human brothers and sisters wherever they were in the galaxy. Because, there were alien things out here, ready to kill of Humanity without a second's thought. The Cylons had tried it and they lost. Those other creatures would, too. No one could stand against united Humanity. The United Church of the Gods was right about that.

"Four minutes," the pilot said, bringing him back to the situation at hand. _'Focus on the mission,'_ he whispered.

Two military shuttles escorted by four stealth-_Clymes_ class Raptors landed just inside the palace's twenty – foot walls. Thirty members of the _Hermes_ Recon team hit the ground running. Resistance was expected to be light but they were all on highest alert.

Lieutenant Davies Howard, the twenty-three year old son of Major Howard was first one out of the raptor even as it touched down. Night gear functioning perfectly, he surveyed the area round the landing zone. He and four others secured the ships as the others proceeded to exit the landing crafts. The orbit of this world was such that at this time of year there was no such thing as real darkness, only what would be considered 'deep dusk'. Still, the night vision was effective enough to see everything around him. But what he didn't expect was the stifling heat. Oh, he'd been told about it, and trained for it, but Caprica had nothing on this hell hole. It was dark and still the place was almost blistering with heat. It had to be about forty two, forty-three degrees celsiusen. A fast look indicated that there were none of the little aliens in the immediate area although that would change quickly enough. Two minutes later, teams were heading directly towards the palace, their objective, secure the Emperor. All data indicated that if they captured the chief lizard, then it was game over. Every lizards across the planet would immediately capitulate, if their leader but gave the order.

The city in the distance was dark, a result of the EMPs blanketing the area. None of their versions of automobiles or planes or electrical devices were functioning, as expected. There was a noise in the wind, an almost moaning sound that he took a moment to identify as Sergeant Riffin he blew the huge door off of its hinges. There was the sound of a collective hissing that he understood to be the terrified screaming of aliens in the distance. Too bad he thought as he and he others swarmed into the great building searching for their target.

There was a gunshot. A curious, but frightened lizard fell to the ground. There were targets appearing now, running from them. There was another shot and another of the aliens hissed in pain and dropped. Its body paint didn't match the one they were searching for.

Thank the gods.

'_Try not to shoot our target,'_ he thought. _'Stop killing everything in sight.'_

There was another huge door that was promptly blown apart. Colonial special forces rushed through, ready for anything. Three more of the short things were running away hissing in terror. So far, there had been absolutely no resistance at all for which Davies was grateful for. For all he knew, these creatures could have had some secret science fiction ray gun that could have vaporized someone. That scenario hadn't materialized. In fact, everything was going perfectly except there should have been more of the lizards than they were seeing for a building this large. Another door was blown and this time instead of being killed outright, several of the naked lizards were captured and herded towards the outside, but there still too few of them to be accounted for. They couldn't have gotten out before the SF arrived. The entire palace area was being surrounded by Colonial military Special Forces.

Apparently his commander had come to the same conclusion. "Fan out," she had ordered. "They must be hiding. Find them. Acquire our target."

_**Destroyer Hymradius**_

Lieutenant Mellus' hand s flew across the DRADIS console trying to clear the radar imaging focused on the palace. Something was happening. The _Hymradius_ was designated as a heavy destroyer class battlestar used as a close support vessel for Special Forces.

"Commander Collins," Mellus started. The Commander was to his left watching the screen as the lieutenant attempted to improve the resolution. "The resolution's worse than on Scorpion. EMP's being compensated for, but ground penetrating DRADIS can barely cut through the interference. Heat signatures are disappearing."

Collins frowned. The heat down there had to be almost unbearable but the heat signatures from the Special Forces were discernible if just barely. The lizards heat traces were as well but many of the signatures were disappearing from the screen. If they had some way to mask their signatures from ground penetrating DRADIS then some would escape and the ground forces might not be able to do anything about it.

"Frack. What could be causing that?"

"Don't know, sir. Life signs are being lost. If they don't acquire the Prime Target soon, we may lose it."

"Get me _Hermes_ lead."

"Sir, she on the horn."

"_Hermes_ lead, the targets are disappearing, repeat disappearing. The numbers are down from four hundred twenty to two hundred six. They're bolting."

"Sir," Mellus said, "has to be a tunnel system, very deep."

Collins nodded. "_Hermes_ _Lead_, they're escaping, most likely through a tunnel system, very deep beyond our ability to penetrate with DRADIS. The place is locked down, no resistance, but you're on your own. We can't track below surface from up here."

"_Understood,"_ Hermes lead answered before starting to scream orders to her squads.

"Increase the range and search for any increases in heat signatures for two kilometers in all directions. I want to find them. Our targets will probably be with them. Inform Command lead of the situation."

"Yes, sir," Mellus said, "increasing range, now."

The first thing that the Emperor noticed was that the tunnels were cold. In fact, he'd never experienced such a chill in his life and he didn't like it. Having the paint pattern of a lowly royal guard to the Emperor felt unnatural and being hurried by the real guards and Ssumaz Ryssann didn't appeal to his sense of decorum that had trailed him his entire life, however he didn't complain too much since Home itself was endangered. He had seen a glimpse of the things from another world before the hidden hatch had closed. The soldiers were Tosevites; that was unmistakable. He'd seen Doctor Daniel Jackson enough times to recognize the species. But he also believed that these were the other non-Tosevite Tosevites that the Tosevites were at war with, the same one that had tried to destroy the conquest fleet with explosive metal bombs near the fourth world of the Tosev star system. If that supposition was true, and he thought this likely, then the Tosevite enemies had discovered and decided to conquer Home. They were fast and he'd almost been caught twice.

Because of the Royal Painter's perfectionist's ways, it had taken too much time. They had barely finished the decoy Emperor before the final doors were blasted open by the enemy Big Uglies. Clutched tightly in his claws were the codes to contact Home II. The EMP had disabled all communication in the city and for miles around. But any radio could be used establish communications with the stealth probe orbiting Home. The Race had spent years trying to find that Tosevite Tau'ri probe with no success. He somehow doubted that this new enemy could either even if they knew it was there.

Two hours later he and his small entourage exited the hidden hatch and joined the crowd exiting the besieged city. No one even recognized him.

He wasn't sure how to feel about that.

Painted as the Emperor of Home, Ssumaz Gradell didn't quite how to feel other than being some type of traitor. He always wanted to be Emperor, but not like this. He and those around him had purposely allowed themselves to be captured by the aliens who guarded his group with those oversized, terror-inducing weapons.

They had been kept in the main hall for nearly two hours now. Amazingly the creatures had a device that could be used in basic communications with members of the Race. It was small, about the size of an enemy's chest, requiring only one of the alien things to carry it on their back. When you spoke into the microphone, it produced which ever language necessary to be understood.

The captive members of the Race were told not to move or try to run away or they would be harmed. Due of the few bodies still lying on the floor, no one dared move.

Finally another group of aliens entered. Gradell instantly saw the one alien in charge as the others bowed before him in that peculiar way. His strips of cloth were very decorative with blue and white colors. He was someone of importance and he headed straight for him, the faux Emperor.

For some reason they flat expressionless eyes of the lead alien reminded him of a predator and Gradell was afraid. The alien in strips of blue stopped in front of him. The creature towered over him, making Gradell feel even more intimidated.

"I am High Priest Iblison, ruler of Home," he said in slurred Home-speak. He spoke the language of the Race! The creature paused, daring Gradell to deny the fact. The faux Emperor wisely said nothing. "Your people, your, world, your empire now belongs to the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. You will be our servants forever. If you resist then you will die. Your people will die. This city will die. There is one to help you."

Gradell couldn't believe what he had heard. What had led the Race to fall so far, so quickly? _Emperors of the past preserve us!_

"Do you understand me?" the being known as Iblison asked.

"Yes," Gradell answered.

"Then bow and acknowledge your new masters of Home."

Was this how Rabotev and Halless felt when the Race conquered them? This was the worst day in his life as he lowered his eye stalks to the new ruler of Home. The others followed his example. Home was lost for now.

But – only for now. Surely the Emperor would take Home back. If only he knew how that feat could possibly be accomplished.

TBC

Due to lots of stress and deaths in the family, I've been somewhat slower in posting. It is my hope that I will now speed up the process.

Note: ATV -Friday


	11. Chapter 10

_**Chapter Ten**_

_**Home-Imperial Place **_

_**City of Preffilo**_

"I, Emperor of Home acknowledge your authority, superior male," Gradell hissed in the language of the Race.

There was no joy, no honor in acknowledging this most awful surrender to creatures from another world. The Lizardian faux-emperor was angry beyond belief, however he needed to maintain the illusion that he was indeed the emperor as long as possible. Every minute he played the role as imposter was another minute longer that the real emperor had available to escape from the city and this horrible fate. And he, Gradell above all was a member of the Race and would do whatever was required to protect his own.

The other members of the Race skittered abound nervously thumping their tails in aggravation and outright fear. Some of the royal cabinet were close to panic, expecting the charade to be uncovered at any moment, with the result being that all of them would die by the claws of these evil-looking, huge alien creatures that had attacked and conquered Home. Gradell sincerely hoped that they wouldn't do something that would get themselves or possibly everyone else killed.

So far, things were proceeding as well as could be expected which was far better than he'd ever hoped for. But that didn't alleviate the terror he felt that one of royals would blurt out the truth.

What came as a shock though, was the startling revelation that the alien in blue-clad strips of cloths with the speckled silver and black fur on top of his head was able to speak the language of the Race with almost full comprehension and clarity. Its words were mushy as its tongue could not fully grasp the sublime intonations of the Race but they were understandable and that implied that these creatures had been studying the Race for a long time, possibly centuries if not longer before they were ready to make their move.

That's what the Race would have and had done and he couldn't imaging these creatures acting any differently. But those thoughts were contrary to what he believed in his liver to be true.

What was standing in front of him was a Tosevite. He was sure of it!

The grayish fur on top of its head, the freakishly flat, yet protruding nose, and the lack of eye turrets were a dead giveaway for one who actually studied the creatures. But he was also sure that these Tosevites weren't the Big Uglies that had visited Home years earlier. He suspected that these were that other faction prominently mentioned in those reports that had thrown metal-explosive bombs around in space with such abandon against the real Tosevites of Tosev III. He couldn't even be sure but his scales itched with the suspicion of the truth of the matter as he ruthlessly suppressed his burning desire to confirm those suspicions.

These creatures hadn't mentioned Tosev III, not once. Instead they had mentioned something called Kobol. What a hideous name, but the name wasn't his main concern. That concern caused him to pray to every Emperor ever born that one of his colleagues wouldn't blurt out into the wind the same suspicion that he had. Many of his companions couldn't keep quiet it if depended on their tails not being cut off, so was only a matter of time before the truth actually been revealed. So, he quaked in fear of being found out too soon, not just for himself but for his emperor and Home itself.

The good thing was that his shaking seemed to be interpreted by the alien as a result of fear for his own life, not the foolishness of his associates. Apparently these creatures didn't understand the body language of the Race just as he couldn't understand theirs.

Gradell judged this to be a good thing.

"How is it that you speak the language of the Race?" he asked with more than a hint of curiosity. The creature had no translation device that the other ugly ones seemed to wear around their necks and what passed for their ears.

"We have our ways," the one called Iblison answered softly. "How we have discovered your language, how we understand your language is of no importance. That we do understand it, is. Your world now belongs to us. You Emperor, belong to the United Colonies of Kobol. If you wish for your people would remain safe, then you submit yourself to _me_."

"And we chose not to do so?"

"Emperor, I believe you have concerns for the safety and welfare of your people. They obey you and now you will obey me. If you do not obey me, I will have your planet turned into a desolate wasteland. All of your defenses are destroyed. You have no military to protect you. You have no weapons that can stop us. We are in control."

The alien creature continued to smile or at least that's what Gradell thought he was doing. The other aliens surrounding him were doing the same thing. That they were doing so incensed the Lizardian.

"How dare you speak to the Race in such a manner!" he hissed at the man. He strongly suspected that if he had surrendered too easily to these creatures then all would be lost. As Emperor even a false one, he had to maintain at least of illusion authority so that would not become too suspicious too quickly. "You are nothing more than barbarians daring to speak to your superiors. The Race has have civilization for the last hundred thousand years. We have conquered two worlds and brought them into the Empire. Our people are happy and content. How long have you had your Empire? How long have you traveled the stars? How long have you have civilization?"

Iblison smiled. "Emperor, we've had it long enough to come here and take over your world and your empire. We have twelve worlds and have traveled in space exerting our dominion, by the will of the gods, for thousands of years. You've traveled to two worlds, subjugated them and brought them into your Empire. It is only fair that now it is your turn to be subjugated to a higher power."

Gradell tail thumped loudly slamming into the floor hard enough to hurt but he never noticed the pain. "Home can never be subjugated by the likes of you."

The creature laughed at him. "But it's already been done. Shall I prove it to you by having one of your cities destroyed? Which one should I turn to ash?"

The faux Emperor was horrified by the thought that one of Home's cities could be destroyed by an explosive metal bomb or whatever it was that they called the weapon. "No!"

"Perhaps I '_should'_ destroy one of your cities to make sure that you understand that it is we who are in control as of this moment."

Gradell nearly excreted his liver. "That would not be necessary," he slowly responded. He had no desire to have millions of his people's lives destroyed by this creature. "The Race will not resist your occupation of Home."

"I am glad we understand each other, Emperor and I will take your word as law to your people. It would be a shame to destroy such resources simply to make a point." He raised his long arms as if to encompass the world. You will find that the Twelve Colonies of Kobol are a benevolent species. We will protect you from your enemies and from anyone that would threaten your world."

Those words captured his full attention and several other members of the royal family were brought up short by those words. "What enemies do you refer to?" The creature smiled once more and Gradell felt the desire to slap that smile from its face with his claws.

"That information is not important to you at that time. However there are enemies out there in the vastness of space that would gladly do you harm. We have come to protect you from those enemies. Home will not change that much," the creature continued. "'You' will still rule Home. But we will rule you and you will follow our orders if you value the safety of your world and its people. Home will continue as before. It has simply changed one master for another."

Gradell and the others stood there astounded, not daring to speak further. Home would never be the same again. All of them silently prayed that the real emperor could save them somehow.

"In one hour," the irritating creature continued, "you will appear on your media broadcasts and inform the population of this world what has happened. Home will serve us. You will order your people to continue their lives as normal. Your will order them to repair the electrical grids that have been damaged by the liberation of your world. There will be no riots, no resistance. If these rules are not obeyed, I will have one of your cities destroyed every turn of the day until they are obeyed. Have I made myself understandable to you?"

"Yes, superior sir," Gradell hissed.

"You will address me as 'superior Iblison', Emperor," the priest demanded.

"Yes, superior Iblison, sir," Gradell answered without hesitation.

Iblison couldn't help himself as he smiled. "Much better. We understand one another. The gods will be done."

_**CDF Poseidon**_**: **

Admiral Westergyne paced the length of the Command and Control center trying to watch everything at once. Multiple displays were filled with details that he needed to keep him and the crews abreast of critical information. The battlestars _Valiant_ and _Galactica,_ and their escorts had taken picket lines established at the outer edges of the star system. Raptors and Vipers patrolled the area. The Battlestars _Hyconn_, _Rieious_, _Lyston_, and _Picon_ _II_ along with their support ships dominated the inner planets.

So far everything had gone smoothly and there had been no causalities on the Colonial side, something that was unheard of during war. The Race, however wasn't as fortunate. Twenty of the little creatures had died from Colonial gunfire when they secured the space station. Several of their 'police-craft' were swatted from space by vipers and one long-distance freighter leaving the system was turned into vapor for failing to return to the star system. In that case, the crew was probably in their version of cryo-sleep and either couldn't or didn't respond to orders to return. It was a waste but things happened. Home space was secured. The planet itself wasn't as fifteen billion planet-bound lizards were in a state of controlled panic. Still there was a lot less disorder than he would have expected.

Fifteen billion people on a planet which was basically one huge desert. It was stunning actually; so many crowded on one space without going to war, almost disease free, or suffering from famine. The Race had no means to travel faster than light or utilize jump technology, but they figured out a solution and implemented it.

They'd make excellent workers when everything was set in place.

"DRADIS status," the Admiral ordered.

"All orbital habitats are secured," the blond Lieutenant responded. "Forty six space ships," and here he could almost hear her sneer the word, "are being escorted back to the planet."

"Admiral," Commander Westmont said as he caught up to the wandering officer. "Troop transport ships are successfully landing in major cities across the world. There are no reports of organized resistance. In fact, their police force is helping to maintain order," he said in wonder. "We'll have complete deployment of the first group of sixty thousand marines in six hours."

The commander offered a crisp salute. "Congratulations, sir. This entire operation couldn't have gone any better."

The Admiral stared at the commander for moment before continuing his pacing. The officer was correct and the star system had been secured in record time. Preliminary communications with other two battle groups in Epsilon Eridandi Two for the Rabotev aliens and the Epsilon Indi One star system for the Hallesses, or whatever they called themselves, had indicated similar successes. There had been no sign of the Tau'ri ships anywhere in the areas of space so far and that have been the saving grace. Their appearing unannounced and blowing the fleet to Hades was the most dangerous and troubling aspect of this entire operation, that the Tau'ri would have found them before they would have been able to complete mission here, or in other two star systems. Precautions were being vigilantly maintained. Short-ranged communications were still mandatory. No subspace transmissions were being allowed and high speech couriers were being used to pass messages to the other two combat groups as well updates being sent home. Subspace tech had been captured from the Cylons by was still decades if not more behind the Thirteeneth tribe. The Earthers were notorious for capturing transmissions so much so that even on Caprica, the flag officers and commanders in chiefs were forced to use hand-written notes or speak face-to-face to keep those prying SOBs from intercepting transmitted messages with seemingly impunity; and the situation was intolerable. The Earthers had probes in the colonial systems but so far no one had yet found them but they were there, hidden somehow. Paranoia reigned in Colonial security and the military. He was frankly surprised that this operation had been kept quiet for as long as it had.

"I'm more concerned about the ground situation," the Admiral said. "I want every transport we have on the ground as soon as possible. Order the second fleet to move in now. Open rebellion hasn't broken out yet and I'm not sure will but we have to be on our toes to make sure that if any action by the locals starts we will be able to deal with it quickly and effectively. We are military force, not a police force so we have to handle this delicately. Language and these creatures being aliens are certainly a barrier to this operation not ever before encountered. The last thing we need is to have some kind slaughter happen on the planet. That would aggravate both the locals, our people, and the Tau'ri if and when they find out."

"The Earthers don't know we're here, probably don't care about these things," the commander responded. "Even if they did there's nothing that they can do once we establish ourselves on this planet. According to the treaty this space was open territory and we not threatening them in any way, so they have no reason to be upset."

Westergyne shook his head. "Tell me something else," he whispered. Louder: "We're so close to their home system that we could spit at it and probably hit it from this distance," he growled. "We entered their territory, whether it's legal or not, Commander. Might as well be in the backyard and very soon they are going to find out exactly how close we are. The main brass is assuming that they won't do anything, but they're not here," he hissed, "and if a battle breaks out, they will run all over us and we won't be able to stop them. In another twenty years we'll be able to meet them on a more even ground, but for right now…" He left the sentence hanging. "The problem is not the planet below, but the Thirteenth tribe in the distance."

"I understand that, sir, but according to all of the reports, they are very busy dealing with other threats. What I don't understand is why we are so belligerent against them? Yes, they are monotheists. So what?"

"Don't let those blue-robed priests hear you say that," he cautioned.

He man shook his head in despair before continuing. "I understand what they did to our fleet in the system, but we were the aggressors and what happened is the past. They are fellow Humans, and I don't understand why we have to be threats to each other. We both have the same goals. We have a shared human history that makes us family by blood. So wouldn't it be better if we could come together and fight against the enemies as a unified front instead of worrying about shooting each other?"

"They don't believe in the gods."

"A large portion of the colonies don't believe in the gods, sir." He sighed. "That shouldn't be the basis for war with each other. All they have to do is acknowledge they're they Thirteenth tribe and unify our governments."

The older man smiled and the innocence of the man. Despite being a seasoned commander, he had no understanding of the Earthers. Those people didn't believe in the gods, didn't believe that they were the Thirteenth tribe and after all of this time, twenty-five hundred years, why should they be expected to rejoin their brethren and submit to the Law of the Colonies? In essence, they were rebels in all but name.

"It is an interesting problem, commander," he responded. You thinking. Most of the people, most of our politicians," he stressed, "don't have intelligence of a fly when it comes to religion and common sense. That goes for both us and the Tau'ri. Just because we're all Humans, doesn't make us automatic friends. We fought a battle with them and they won. It should have been over. At least, it was over for us." He chuckled at the irony of the statement that had just brushed passed his lips. "But they don't think like we do." Slowly the admiral pulled the man at the man off to the side to avoid detection by overly sensitive ears. "We came so close to total war with the Thirteeners that the Quorum and our military still have nightmares. Their technology is superior to ours and they could have decimated Caprica from orbit and there would've been nothing we could do to stop them. We would have lost every fighter, every battlestar, and every ship trying to stop them."

"And that's the reason why we here?" he asked incredulously, "to show them that we are not afraid of them?" He moved closer to the Admiral and whispered harshly. "We're supposed to be enlightened people, but we are out here conquer the group of aliens haven't even figured out faster than light travel of any form. They may have conquered their neighbors but they been at peace with themselves for thousands of years. They haven't had any civil wars and their society is stable."

Westergyne shook his head and began glaring at the commander with such intensity that the officer backed off a step. Their civilization is probably more stable than ours," he admitted and then braced himself. "What I'm about to tell you is top secret. Do not open your mouth and say anything to anybody. If anybody finds out and I trace it back to you, you will be shot and your corpse spaced; is that understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Our surrounding star systems don't have the resources we need to sustain the colonies for any more than sixty years.

There is not a speck of life that we haven't placed on it within fifteen star systems in any direction of our home. The rest of it is inhospitable. What few resources that we have left were used by the Cylons as well as us. Our fuel sources are almost gone, the war with the Cylons nearly bankrupted us. And then we discovered that there are forces out here in the galaxy that are more than willing to conquer us. Those forces would destroy us as a people, wipe out our civilization and make slaves of the survivors. Our leadership knows that we need to expand or die. We develop subspace communications so that we can talk to each other instead of relying on regular radio and couriers." He was growling now. "We had to steal that technology from the Cylons and it is still inferior to what the Tau'ri have! When we met Dr. Jackson and he told us what was going on, the collective Quorum almost had a stroke. The religious leaders went frakkin' crazy. Everyone, and I mean everyone, was scared. If a fraction of what the Earthers said was true, then we were living on borrowed time and everyone knew it. That's why the leadership at home had demanded the Tau'ri submit to the Colonial rules of government. They saw the technology, heard the stories and panicked. We needed the resources that Earth takes for granted." Quietly, he looked around to make sure no one as close. "Take this star system. Look at all of these systems around here. It's stuffed with life and resources. There's a huge source of tylium in the star system closest to the Earth. Minerals, rare earths, organic materials, breathable air in the systems nearby. They're rich beyond our imaginations. You've read the reports about the worlds we've seen destroyed in our journey here."

The commander nodded, his face grim with the knowledge. All of those worlds… It had to be the System Lords and their constant wars with each other.

"For every world we've seen destroyed, there are dozens untouched. They haven't cared about these lizard worlds because they're not important to them! They have a galaxy to play with, enemies to fight. We have dirt, and poisoned worlds in our region of space. Kobol was one of the few life-bearing worlds and that was spoiled by war and radiation. We beat the Cylons and congratulated ourselves when we wiped them out. We had no idea what's out here waiting for us. That's why Cain attacked Earth as soon as we discovered it, under the pretext of finishing off the Cylons. She knows as well as I do that we needed what the Earthers had and thought she could take it. We lost, but that doesn't mean that we had to run and hide. We are outgrowing our system resources. We need to establish themselves in this territory which is rich with life, resources and planets; things that we as a growing people desperately need. We're trapped at home. There's nowhere to expand to. But at the same time the Thirteenth tribe…"

"Which may not be the Thirteenth tribe."

"They are!" his superior snapped.

"Yes, sir," Westmont responded as crisply as a first year cadet.

"At ease," Westergyne told him. "Look, Westmont, they are rich."

"And occupied elsewhere," the commander added.

"Yes."

"And like the days of old, when our ancestors went a conquering and took the resources of their neighbors, we're doing the same thing. It happened then and it's happening now."

"Simplistically put, but the bottom line answer is yes. They have an empire. We need to develop the same thing. These lizards will help us establish ourselves as a true galactic power – if we have the time and the Tau'ri leave us alone."

"Sir, we're close to their territory but not actively threatening them. Maybe they won't take offense."

"Pray to the gods that they don't." The Admiral frowned: "Our official mission is to take these worlds and establish a dialogue with the Tau'ri, being close enough to associate with them but far enough away not to threaten them." Unofficially, our job is to slowly choke them, surround them, and get them to understand that joining us is the will of the gods." The admiral had almost choked saying those words. He looked as if he was holding back hysteria.

The commander did cough. How many people were going to die because of this insanity? "The President sanctioned this?"

"No," the older man snapped. "Didn't you hear me? _It's the will of the gods!_" he said, the words coming out as a curse.

It wasn't just the President running the show. Westmount couldn't move as his senior officer walked back to the command center. The words congratulations had turned to ashes in his mouth. This mission was going to end up a disaster. "The will of the gods," he muttered. It wasn't the Quorum in charge, not here. It was the devil and they were all going to pay one way or another.

_**To Be Continued**_


	12. Chapter 11 given enough time

From Southern-reader who said: Oh look. Another story where the Colonials are Religious nut jobs.

_**Well, I take exception to that. This story is blood brother to THE first story that shows that SOME of the Colonials are nut jobs. Even 'Reunions are a deleted' on this site, didn't show all of the Colonials as such. But I credit Ash's Boomstick for his story and as ghost writer to that story, I take a lot of the credit of portraying them as such. I will speak for Ash (or Bob Regent here) in saying that there was a reason why this attitude of the colonials was taken. He backed off as he didn't want to get into the religious aspects so much as a focus of his story. I don't have that concern.**_

_**As I have ghosted for him, he has ghosted this story Worldwar for me. Writers in blood so to speak here. Similar, but we are not the same. Therefore when you read my Colonial interpretation here, it's not just another story where the Colonials are religious nut jobs. It's related to the first story that started it all. **_

_**Chapter Eleven**_

'_**Given Enough Time'**_

_**Caprica- two years earlier:**_

President Antonius Goesel had just finished the rest of his meal gulping it down quickly before his next appointment. He was pleased of his progress in his first three months in office. The power was almost intoxicating and the honeymoon with the people of the twelve colonies was still going strong but there were already small signs that he love fest was ending. The teacher's strike was beginning to get ugly and there was some pressure on him by some of the more conservative elements of the Quorum to deal with it aggressively before it got out of control. Who knew that teachers could challenge the police in the streets? That revelation alone should have given Adar a hint that a pay increase was in order right then and there. Now, however the responsibility was in Antonius' hands and he'd deal with it before the teachers started shooting those little brats in the streets. Pushing though a modest pay hike and better working conditions was a small price to pay in order to keep the peace. Then there was the military's screaming for more money as well as the demand for more aggressive exploration. Hadn't those heavy-handed idiots learned anything, yet?

Apparently not. But it would be his pleasure to educate them. The galaxy was far more dangerous than they knew.

His secretary beeped for his attention. "Your two o'clock is here, Mr. President," she stated.

It was time to face the music. "Send her in."

High Priestess Livia Sytomia, First Priestess of the Gods of Kobol, Head of the College of Pontiffs eased into the Office of the President like a coiled snake ready to strike. She dressed in full regalia as befitting her own office. The white and blue robe shimmered wherever the light touch it giving it the illusion that it glowed on its own. She wore a single crown, the Crown of Athena purportedly handed down from generation to generation through the female line of the High Priestesses. It was a price relic of Kobol and for her to wear it now indicated the seriousness of this visit.

The sixtyish woman with the silver hair had demanded an audience with the president. The request had taken an entire day to be responded to, and to her, this was a slight to her authority and position in the twelve worlds. When she heard of the leader of the colonies intentions, the woman was not pleased to say the least and when she wasn't pleased that was when she was the most dangerous.

Inside the Presidential office he sat and prepared, his hands folded waiting for her to speak, hadn't even bothered to stand when she entered his presence. Livia interpreted this another slight. Not even the President of the Twelve Colonies had the right to treat her as if she were some lowly member of the Quorum.

Simply put, High Priestess Livia Sytomia was livid.

She sat down in the chair opposite of him, her anger radiating, permeating the entire room. "I have entered into this room of my own free will President Goesel," she began in traditional manner, "as you did so long ago, if you remember. When we helped to ascend to Office it was with the understanding that the Apellai would be folded into our loving hands with all due haste. Instead, we see nothing being done. Has your faith in the gods waivered so much that you hesitate in your faithlessness?"

Priestess Sytomia, you can cut the religious dribble," Goesel answered quickly. "You know as well as I do what's at stake here. I've read all of the reports including the most classified ones and I've no intention of provoking the Earthers into a war, one that at this time, we can't win. I will not consign our loyal soldiers to their deaths because you and your precious Pontiffs can't wait to get more money into your coffers. I will not have that blood on my hands because of you trying to push us into a war we're not able to win."

"So you dare to speak to me in such a manner when you know I will destroy your career and everything you hold dear for it?" she asked coldly.

"Your help propelled me into the Presidency," he acknowledged. "Thank you for that most gracious help. However, I will make this clear for you so that you will have no trouble understanding my worlds. You-don't-own-me."

She cocked her head to side like a serpent. "We don't?"

"No, you don't," he answered firmly. "Now, if you're finished, get out."

Both of them glared at one another and then – Livia smiled, looking at him like he passed some unknown test.

"I'm glad you've not lost your spine. This is why we picked you, you know," her smile became more predatory and then disappeared completely. "Now, for the real purpose of this meeting. I am to assume that the plans are nearing completion."

"It's on track and should be implemented in twenty-two months."

Livia nodded. "You know that the title 'Twelve Colonies of Kobol' is no longer accurate. The two worlds we discovered are being incorporated which effectively makes fourteen. We're expanding and we need to change in order to accommodate those changes. Glorious things are happening to the Colonies and it is a great time to be alive, thank the gods. But the Apellai continue to disturb us with their arrogance and their refusal to acknowledge the truth. This can't continue."

Goesel folded his hands. The woman in front of him was dangerous and he'd be a fool if he ever were to forget that for an instant. So he was careful to maintain his temper as he explained himself to her. "The Apellai are the only thing standing between us and forces in the galaxy who'd kill us all as soon as breathing. The only thing that's saved us is that we're so isolated no one has come to this area of space. But the danger exists and now we are aware of it. We stumbled upon Earth. It's a miracle that we hadn't come across the Goa'uld or the Lucian Alliance. If we had, we wouldn't be here talking now. We cut our teeth on the war with the Cylons, but that's only the beginning."

Livia began securitizing him. "You're afraid," she said, "afraid of the Apellai."

"High Priestess, the Earth situation is complex."

"Apellai, Mr. President," she corrected.

"The Apellai situation," he amended, "as I said is complex but it is a problem we can deal with given time. The lizard race can be handled if our reports are accurate concerning their culture and pliability. But what you are unaware of is that we've been secretly exploring and have come into contact with a Human-like race called the Jaffa."

"What do you mean 'Human-like'? she asked. There was that familiar look of disgust on her face whenever she was subjected to something she disliked. "Do they believe in the gods?"

"Their view of gods is different than ours," he answered, praying that he wouldn't have to go into detail. _Why did every single thing have to start off with belief in the gods?_

"Heathens then," she dismissed. "Continue."

It took strength not to shake his head in frustration. "They have no love for the Apellai, or 'Tau'ri' as they are called. The battlestar _Daurn_ made contact with them just before my inauguration. The Jaffa first believed us to be Apellai. When they discovered we weren't, they spoke to us; and then they tried to take the ship. The _Daurn_ was severely damaged and barely managed to jump to safety. The information they returned with concerning the Goa'uld and the Lucian Alliance, and the Jaffa's aggressive nature has changed our view of what's out there. Exploration is being done cautiously now. We can't go out there like a primeabos in a glass store. The point is, and I full agree with Adar here, is that we need the Apellai stable and strong as a deterrent until we are strong enough to be able to properly defend ourselves and our worlds."

"I understand your concern, but having a strong Thirteenth tribe weren't in the plans," Livia growled dangerously. "Every day, thousands of innocent souls are lost due to their ignorance of the will of the true gods... This cannot continue unabated."

"Is it their souls or their money you're interested in – aunt?"

Glaring at him, she said, "Money is only a means to power and we use that power to glorify the gods. The word of the gods need to be spread so that souls might be saved."

"That word won't be spread if the Apellai blow our worlds into ashes. Every expert I've spoken agrees to this one fact; we can't beat their technology but we can still find a way to beat them. No matter how powerful they are, they're still only one small world. We believe that they may possibly have alien allies and we can use that against them as well. We can use our resources, our humanity, our numbers, and intelligence to exploit those weakness to bring them into the fold in time."

"Intriguing idea," Livia responded after a few moments. "You obviously have a plan."

"Yes, Priestess, I do have a working plan. We have twelve worlds and others to be added. All of the resources we need."

"For what?"

"To drown them," he answered. "Our culture is our most powerful weapon."

"Don't stop there," she smoothly intoned. "Tell me more."

_**Earth: White House:**_

_**Present time: **_

_**Twelve days post invasion of Home**_

In the Oval Office, President Henry Hayes was sitting down, sipping his morning coffee. He had exactly three minutes before his first briefing would happen. Those three minutes were a blessing these days as the transition was beginning and his already tight schedule had tightened further. It was time for him to step down and let the new man take his place. He smirked a bit as that familiar phrase slipped into his mind like an old phrase.

'_It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…'_

It was going to be hard giving all this up and going back to private life but part of him was looking forward to it – or at least he believed he would and at the very least his hair wouldn't turn solid white by the end of next year from the stress. The office as usual was immaculate, everything in its place, right where it should be. But he still took a moment to look at the room he called home for these last eight years and his hear knew that it would miss this place.

The US elections were over, his time almost up. All too soon President-elect Earnest Boyd would soon occupy this seat, and good luck to him. But he wasn't sitting here yet and the world still had to continue. There was barely time for another sip before there was knock on the door.

His appointments had arrived.

"Come on in."

The door opened and two officers stepped into the room. General O' Neill who was about to retire himself, and General Morris, Commander of the American contingent of the Terran Defense forces both gave off crisp salutes to the Commander-in-Chief.

"At ease, gentleman; take a seat."

"Thank you, sir," said both men at the same time.

"We have twenty minutes, so let's get started. I want to hear the Asgard report first; I need a pick me up this morning."

O'Neill began. "Yes, Mr. President." O'Neill opened his briefcase and handed the President several documents. "I have the information that you requested concerning the Asgard and the 'Great Experiment'."

"'Great Experiment', my foot," he smirked. "How are they doing?" President Hayes asked. The man's face had lit up as he asked the question. The Asgard situation was something that had given him a great amount of entertainment throughout the last two years. He was sure that it would continue to do so long after he left office.

"Simply put, sir, they're going crazy, but in a good way. They've been reduced to asking us lowly Humans for help – again Mr. President. This time they're requesting instructions on child rearing techniques. In fact, they are formally asking for volunteers from Earth to help them in their Great Experiment."

"Let me get this straight," Hayes said. "Now, they're asking for nannies?"

"Yes, sir," answered a smiling O'Neill. "That's it in a nutshell."

"I must say it took them long enough."

"Yes, sir. That's what I thought, as well."

The Great Experiment was actually a success for the Asgard. One of greatest trials for the Asgards' survival was the challenge to stop, or at least the slowing down the destruction of their race. Because of their advanced science in biological cloning, considered an optimal solution for long life, they had effectively become little more than a race of clones, continually copying themselves over and over and over as the previous bodies were either injured beyond repair or had grown too feeble to continue to function properly. This process essentially allowed the Asgard to create a form of immortality, a technique that had served them well for the tens of thousands of years. However even immortality demanded a price. There wasn't any more fresh genetic material to use. The continual re-cloning of the same material over and over again, had begun generating more and more genetic errors within each generation of clone. Despite their furious efforts to counter their degradation, the Asgard had reached the point where the clones were becoming non-viable. The situation had reached a crisis point within their species. Without fresh genetic material, the Asgard species was doomed. As a race they were facing extinction and they knew it. They had to make a decision involving their entire species.

They could have chosen to destroy their world along with their technology, handing over the reins of responsibility to the people of Earth, a species they had come to trust and respect even if they were still primitive and as the Nox had described them…young. But surprisingly the Asgard trusted them. However, the desire to survive, to hope for a future where there was none was still strong. Therefore what they decided to do was to place the entire collective minds of their people, minus a mere dozen volunteers, into data stasis.

In the end, the volunteers fulfilled their mandate and destroyed their home world and everything in it make sure that their operational technology would not fall into unworthy, or enemy hands. Those Asgard upgraded the Tau'ri ship _Odyssey_ with all of the Asgard technology as well as an Asgard core and the Humans were now formally acknowledged as the Fifth Race (To Be, as Odin had clarified) with all of the responsibilities thereof. It would push the Humans of Earth to their limits however the Asgard believed in them.

According to Supreme Commander Thor, their scientists had come to the conclusion that there had existed only two acceptable possibilities that could insure the continued survival of Asgard race. The first was to follow the same basic protocol of the original plan as they have been doing for the last few thousand years. The uploaded minds of all of the Asgard in their massive mainframe computer would serve as a digital storage container. They would then wait for the Humans of the Tau'ri to eventually (hopefully) solve the problem for them.

The second choice was something far more radical that had been discarded many times over. But, General Samantha Carter had presented a very persuasive argument with caveats that had caused the Asgard population to re-evaluate said second choice. Connected by computer interface, she had debated with the minds of the leadership of Asgard. Intellectually, they were one of the most advanced and powerful races in three galaxies equipped with technology developed and refined over tens of thousands of years and they were not willing to give that up easily. The Asgard had were very settled with who and what they were and did not accept change easily. With the cloning disaster however, they had to accept that ancient axiom, no matter how much they fought against it.

Everything grows old.

In her arguments to the Asgard, then Colonel Samantha Carter had suggested that they develop a completely new body for themselves. It was an old argument that the Asgard had dismissed numerous times, but this time Carter came at the problem from a different approach. She proposed the use of a hybrid body using DNA from the original pre-Asgard body they had found years earlier and blend it with Human DNA to create a viable clone, something completely new.

To say the least, Asgard were initially incensed and then they were scared out of their minds. There was no way that they would lower themselves to becoming a more 'primitive' species. They reasoned that such a hybrid would not be able to maintain the knowledge that every Asgard possessed. The brain capacity simply could not properly contain such knowledge and as such as they would be less than they were. Samantha Carter agreed wholeheartedly but countered with arguments that there was a reason why organisms reproduced in the first place.

Everything grew old and had to be replaced with something new. She generally acknowledged that the information contained within each Asgard clone could not be contained in the new hybrid, however there were advantages to this as well. First of all they would be able to reproduce naturally. Although the knowledge that they could not contain still remained in their computer systems to be used anytime. Furthermore with new bodies, they would have the opportunity to learn and experience life from a fresh perspective, maybe even become more than what they were. They would then look at the universe through new eyes, experience new things, learn new ways. They would not be stagnant; they would not have a fear of cellular degradation and their race would stride the stars like normal species. The Asgard were intellectual giants but they have lost the ability to do the simple things, plus the cloned bodies were extremely fragile and the things taken for granted by many of the other races and species have been lost by the Asgard. It was a simple argument but a compelling one and in the end, the ruling Council decided to explore both methods.

Thus, the Great Experiment began.

Ten thousand viable hybrid Human- Asgardian bodies, fifty percent males, and an equal number of females, developed by the dozen Asgards with the help of scores of Human scientists and the Atlantis database were developed. The minds of willing Asgardians were placed within them and as O'Neill has said, the fun began.

The Asgard hybrids had to relearn everything. They had to learn how to walk, how to run, how to exercise. They had to develop clothing because the bodies were either too cold, or to hot, not to mention they were needed in order to handle the physiological responses the bodies had when the males and females stared at each other. Emotions that have been previously ignored or suppressed came to the forefront and caused no end of embarrassment and aggravation. They have to learn how to eat, rest comfortably, and how to interact with one another with the new bodies. They had to redevelop relationships with each other. They had to learn how to trust one another again. Intellectually, they were still giants but in everything else they were now little children learning how to stand. Most of the Asgard considered these circumstances a nightmare of epic proportions. But it wasn't all bad…

… Until the pregnancies began.

That had been a very interesting experience, (O'Neill's quiet hysteria didn't help the situation, Thor noted) and logic was of absolutely no help for the females had while pregnant. The Asgard males, for lack of a better term, freaked out. This in turn created a much closer relationship between the members of the Tau'ri and the Asgard hybrids. The first eight years had been a challenge, but the young were thriving as well as their parents with help from a primitive race called Humanity. Their race was beginning to flourish while the other Asgard minds observing from their computer core quietly watched the experiment with pride and terror. So far, the Great Experiment seem to be working and more and more of the digitized Asgard were choosing to make the changeover.

It was true. Some of the intellectual capability had been lost, but more and more of them seem to be accepting the fact that they had gained a lot more. They were a race born anew they were beginning to accept the new challenges with excitement not simply logic. It was messy, but it was working.

Hayes would read the reports in detail as soon as he had the time but now was the time for the update he dreaded. "Okay, General Morris, your turn. Let's hear it."

"We've just received the latest intelligence on the Ashtaroth Lords that have taken over Lord Yu's territory. When Yu did last year, several of the minor lords started fighting over parts of his territory until the Astorath got into it. They've wiped out the minors and established rule at the central capital. The bad thing was that they didn't resort to their usual technique of the Goa'uld slaughtering a portion of the population. Instead they made nice with the population, improved the already okay living conditions and instituted education reforms."

Hayes smiled and it wasn't pretty. "That's unheard of. What's the catch?"

"Anath and Astartea are in charge there. If Dr. Jackson were here he could give you the whole historical background about them but most of it's irreverent as their history is radically different from the knowledge we have here on Earth. For one thing they're the now-dead Baal's, and long may he rot, biological children. He genetically engineered several Goa'uld larvae to his own specifications, so in essence they're mutations. Unlike the other Goa'uld that we've fought, these Lords work together as a family unit."

"Which makes them far more dangerous than the former System Lords who fought each other over everything."

"Yes, sir," General Morris stated as he continued. "There are four Ashtaroth Lords; Ashtoreth and his sister Atargatis have been attacking Lucian worlds and basically have taken over approximately a fourth of the alliance and in some cases the Tok'ra have stated that those liberated worlds are actually accepting the occupations. The resisters however have suffered atrocities that even the old Goa'ulds hadn't committed.

"And then there's Anath and Astartea, the warlords of the group. They are the ones who are whipping up everyone Yu's territory to come after us. The other surviving System Lords are falling under their authority out of fear, and the way things are proceeding the remainder of the Alliance will fall to them within two years. All of this is in preparation for them to come after us. They're building lots of warships, and Earth will likely be one of their first targets."

"The Tok'ra are speaking to us again, I see," Hayes said. "About time they've gotten their butts exposed to open air."

"Somewhat speaking to us, sir," O'Neill corrected. "They're still afraid and pissed that we didn't stay under their thumb and follow like polite little primitives. We change too fast for them. They're upset that we didn't remain dependent on them. Plus, there's the fact that we've done more to eliminate the snakes in fifteen years than they accomplished in two thousand. I think they're are afraid of what we might do in the next fifty years."

"And what we might become," Hayes finished. "Too bad," the President snapped. "I hoped things would have improved in the last five years, but it's probably still too early for them to accept us as we are."

"They can't control us and that frightens them, sir, almost as much as the Goa'uld did," finished O'Neill.

"The Ashtaroth Lords are snakes sir; smart, related snakes that believe in family, but still snakes," General Morris stated. "Like the rest of the Goa'uld they have the same agenda. This is just another attempt at galactic control. They haven't actively attacked any of the protected planets but they have been seen around several of them. They're trying to split our forces, test our defenses and our resolve." The silver-haired man's eyes were staring directly into the President's now. "They've also thrown around a lot of propaganda against us, directed towards those worlds and a few worlds not under the treaty. According to them, we haven't been fighting the Goa'uld because of their oppression but we've done it because we want to become overlords of the galaxy and if we win, our true nature would surface and our cruelty would be such that we would be worse than the worst System Lord. We're finally seeing their agenda. They're portraying themselves as galactic protectors, fighting to protect the galaxy from Tau'ri tyranny," the man sneered. "The motto 'truth, justice and the American way' has become a mantra strongly implying that we want suppress every freedom to anyone we contact. Sir, our reports seems to indicate that it seems to be working among those who don't know us. I have the details in the summary briefing and documents, sir."

"So they've perverted our motto, huh," Hayes huffed. "I shouldn't be surprised. We knew that they were going to do something, so they've finally showed their hand. No more snipping against our ships but full blown attacks."

"They have openly attacked two of our ships near one of our protective worlds," O'Neill added, "claiming that those ships violated their territories and that the worlds are a haven for Lucian terrorists. They've placed several of their ships in the area and are becoming aggressive, challenging our ships and then pulling out at the last possible moment. And they are building an army specially aimed at taking us out. General Morris will brief you on that, sir."

"Are they ready to begin hostilities?"

"No sir, we don't believe they are," answered O'Neill. "Ancient, Asgard and our own weaponry will kick their collective butts and they know it, but they can still bleed us. As of this moment, they'd lose far more than they're willing to pay. They are building up, though and are very open about it. The Tollania government doesn't want to wait. They're pushing for a fight against the Ashtaroth. They want to smash them right now before they become too strong."

"I don't blame them, but we won't start something now if we can avoid it," then President Hayes paused for effect. "Not," he continued, "until we are strong enough to finish what we start."

* * *

O'Neill shook his head. The survival of the Tollans colony had still surprised and impressed him after all of these years. The Tollans were powerful but in O'Neill's opinion, narrow-minded and too smug in their own superiority. At that time, they wouldn't help Earth in its struggle against the Goa'uld, who threatened them as much as anyone else, because Earther were too savage, too primitive to properly utilize _any_ advanced technology that the Tollans possessed. That belief was probably true in some sense, however they also hadn't lifted a finger to help Earth in its struggle against the Goa'uld, either. They had overestimated themselves and at the same time they had also underestimated their own capabilities. In fact, they had a hand in nearly destroying Earth, being forced to do so by the Goa'uld. By SG-1's standards, they were too set in their versions of civilized behavior for their own good and that attitude in the end cost them dearly. The Ion cannons depended on so much by so many as the Tollans primary line of defense worked perfectly right up unto the System Lord Anubis found a way through their emplacements, destroyed the stargate, and butchered nearly everyone on the planet. It was unsurprising that in the end, it was the leader Narim who managed to help save the almost twenty thousand of his people out of a population of eight million.

The majority of the survivors had remained hidden in deep, shielded caves for more than six months before they were able to come into open air once more. Of the sixty thousand living Tollans living in caves, half had died during that time. The Goa'uld were under the impression that they had completely destroyed them, but the Tollan people were technologically advanced – which was why the Goa'uld hated and feared them in the first place – and a stubborn, very smart people.

With their world destroyed by an enemy they believe couldn't touch them, their entire existence had been altered. Gone were the high-minded attitudes that had gotten them wiped out. It took another year before they could utilize and refit several old wrecked ships to escape from their burned out colony. The components necessary for hyperspace travel was impossible to recreate with the limited resources they had had, but the Tollans weren't without resources. They managed to reproduce an ancient, slow form of faster-than-light drive unit they had developed long before they had discovered hyperspace. Packed in several ships barely capable of space flight, the thirty thousand people of Tollana set out find to the only place that might offer them sanctuary despite the deceit that they had perpetrated against it.

The world was a shiny blue planet called Earth, the only world that they knew of that might accept them. Those primitive people lived on the only world the Tollans could think of that had the potential and the willingness to help them. The small ragtag fleet of survivors spent five treacherous years trying to reach Earth being constantly harassed by elements of the Lucian Alliance. The Alliance wanted the Tollans badly. It was well known of the Tollans' scientific capabilities, and rich bounties were placed on them for their knowledge, and their technology. Ten thousand of the thirty thousand survivors were killed before they were eventually discovered by the English Earth _Daedalus_ class ship _Discovery _on its return from the Pegasus midpoint station. The _Discovery_ destroyed three Lucian warships before the Alliance vessels fled. The fact that Tau'ri had ships came as a rude, but welcomed shock to them. For the Tollans, Tau'ri hadn't had ships the last time they had had contact with them.

However to the Earthers, the Tollana survivors had changed radically as well. They had become a dangerous group of people. The peace-loving people had turned into a hardened collective, bent on revenge on the Goa'uld and the Lucian Alliance. When it came to the parasites, they were among the first to advocate going to war and they were becoming very good at it. Those Tollans now called Tollians colonists were tough when it came to advocating war. Their attacks against the Lucian Alliance had proven that beyond a doubt and with ample reason. The Alliance now hated and feared them more than they did Earthers.

"We're not going to stand around and do nothing either," Hayes said. "I am going to talk to the participating government leaders of the IOA and ask for a formulation by the IOA of a plan of action by the end of the week."

Both generals nodded. The International Oversight Advisory committee had become just that after a series of debacles that had almost gotten Earth wiped off of the map. The original members of the fledging board had begun abusing power. As many people had said, 'they had lost their way', and that was putting it politely. It had been too much power given without enough controls but it was a lesson learned. The newer incarnation of the IOA was far more efficient and much more effective and that suited him just fine. The world was better for it even if it didn't know it.

"General Morris, your turn. You have ten minutes."

"Yes, sir," Morris began. "We've finally finished restoring and upgrading the two _Auroras_ we salvaged when we discovered the _Lemuria_. They're undergoing trial runs now. The four _Oregon_ class _B-305_s are in service and we're finishing two _Illinois_-strike class _305_s which will undergo trial runs in two months. The British, French, and Germans have each converted three of the captured Colonial capital ships, including two badly damaged but salvageable battlestars, three of what we call super gunstars, three destroyers and a modified _Minoan_ class EMCON pocket battlestar and added them to their own forces. We have two of their gunstars and a missile carrier. China has six _Prometheus_ II and two _Daedalus_ class warships. Russia has a total of seven _Daedalus_ and another seven _Prometheus_ II's and are building two heavy _Stalingrad_ class _B-305s _designed after our _Oregon_. Japan in association with South Korea has three _Prometheus II's,_ which has ticked off North Korea to no end. They're demanding to become part of IOA coalition or they will consider their rejection an act of war and act aggressively to address this slight – again."

"In their dreams," Hayes hissed. "We are not breaking that promise." How many ships do we have in total as of today?" he demanded, changing the subject."

"We now have a total of ninety-eight heavy capital ships so far available to defend Earth, our colonies and the protective treaty planets. We have forty-three destroyers of the _Prometheus_ class. The _Lemuria_ gives us a massive advantage but we're still short on firepower when we take into consideration the numbers of planets we have to protect. We don't want to show that big gun yet. The Asgard are still recovering from the replicator war and with their Great Experiment, they have a total of twenty-one functional ships to protect their home and aid in protecting the Pegasus galaxy from the remains of the Wraith and the new, as yet unknown war-like aliens that have been showing up in the last two years. These unknowns are extremely aggressive and so far have shown no signs of wanting to talk. A full third of our forces are at Pegasus fighting both. They've attacked every single planet with a population they've come into contact with. Sir, think Klingons with bad attitudes."

"Thank you for that wonderful illustration," the President remarked. "You have five minutes."

"The _Pacifica_ is being serviced by the _Atlantis_ corps there and will be brought here as soon as five fully charged ZPMs have been produced and installed. That city ship is enormous and likely one of their dedicated science vessels. We haven't even begun to scratch the surface of that ship's database yet. The _Lemuria_ is producing one ZPM every three weeks, slower than our predicted rate but very usable. The _Atlantis_ science corps have finally discovered the ZPM factory in the bowels of the city. They estimate that they will be able to start production in about three months. But we are still in danger of being overwhelmed if the Goa'uld come at us in force. We're still spread out too thin. Even with the help of the free Jaffa nation, when we take into consideration the number of hostile Jaffa worlds out there, we're out numbered. Unless the IOA is willing to abandon a few of the protected planets then we will continue to be stretched to the limit at least for the next three years."

"That won't happen," Hayes snapped. "Our job, our responsibility. Continue."

"The Tollanians have built an automated ship building facility. We have an Alterian and Asgard derived facility. But they're small and produce one capital hull per two weeks. We still have crews to train and people to recruit. Our two colonies are helping us as much as they can. The moon base is helping a lot in training and space station development and we should have our first three stations by the end of this year. The plasma-missile defense grid being integrated in Earth orbit is two months from optimal. North Korea is balking about not being protected first," he said without a hint of a smirk. "Our scientists have finally built the first prototype naquada-ruby plasma disruptor cannon, or 'go away' beam as it's been nicknamed. It uses the same principle as the Asgard weapon but is less powerful and is an unrefined, brute force weapon but it works. We will be able to mount it on our tanks as well as use it as a modified Gatling defensive-offensive weapon on our newer class of ships. Any unshielded target hit by that weapon will cease to exist. The problem will be the amount of power needed which here the ZPMs, the mini-naquada, and neutrino-ion generators come into play when we generate enough of them.…"

_**Sol system:**_

A flash of distortion a half million kilometers from Pluto triggered sensors throughout the star system. Stationed probes immediately located, scanned and identified the anomaly and transmitted their findings back to Earth. The distortion was a byproduct of a single colonial vessel jumping into the system. The vessel's IFF is detected and confirmed as the CDF P_entērēs, _a picket cruiser being used as a diplomatic carrier by the Colonials used to keep the lines of communication between Earth and the Colonies open. Subspace communication was convenient but the carriers serve their purpose, transferring diplomatic pouches back and forth. The ship was expected as it made its quarterly trip to Earth and back to Colonial Star Station _Hectare_ some three months distance from the Sol system.

Colonial Star Station Base _Makaria, _was amere thirty-six light years from Sol. It was strictly military whose purpose was to maintain and protect the space lanes and keep them open. Earth knew of the station, a fact that the Colonials were more than aware of._ Makaria _was not being used as diplomatic waypoint as the Colonial Quorum deemed it too provocative towards the Earth people.

Its original purpose was to serve as a support unit point during the Cylon war and would later serve as an anchor point as the Colonials began deep space exploration of that part of the galaxy. They weren't aware that they were so close to Earth until four years ago and that disastrous First Contact that took the lives of so many Colonial men and women. _Hectare _and two sister stations spanned the year long distance between Earth and the Twelve Colonies.

P_entērēs, _and the modified destroyer_ Alolos, _served as diplomatic transport carriers. Diplomatic pouches as well as messages were either brought or transmitted from the colonies or sister stations to these two vessels. It was a slow and cumbersome procedure but unless there was a crisis that required direct communication between the leaders of both cultures, subspace transmissions were used sparingly at this point. Neither side trusted the other, especially the Colonials who feared what the Earthers could do with their subspace communications proven to be far more advanced than theirs. That fear had changed the entire structure of Colonial security. Until parity could be reached, the people of Kobol weren't taking any chances with sensitive data being intercepted.

"CDF P_entērēs, this is Terran Command. You are being tracked and are at established coordinates. Please state your purpose for being here."_

"This is Captain Gratinnis of the CDF P_entērēs. _Requesting approach vector to deliver diplomatic materials to the Kobollian Colonial Embassy."

"_Understood. Vector coordinates are being sent to you. You may approach when ready. You are also warned not to deviate from said coordinates."_

"We will not deviate from said coordinates confirmed. Now that the official command and orders are completed, how's life, Lieutenant Gardner?"

"_Not bad, Captain Gratinnis. I trust that your trip was uneventful?"_

"Boring as per usual, and I like it that way. Jump engines charging now. Jump protocols initiated in fifteen minutes."

"_Acknowledged. The _Antilles_ will meet you there, Terran control out."_

"P_entērēs _out."


	13. Chapter 12 Given enough Time -part II

15

_**Chapter 12**_

'_**Given enough time-part II'**_

**Earth: New York: USA**

The small entourage of Colonials had been treated well, if cautiously the last seven months. Ambassador Agasha Saltum and his wife Daramia had quite enjoyed the theater that the Earth Ambassador James Westameir had invited them to earlier in the evening. The guests that the couple met later were interesting and despite the limitations of the language barrier, pleasing to be around. The variety of foods they were treated to afterwards rivaled anything that Caprica could have produced. The Terran city of New York was as amazing a place as Caprica City during its holiday seasons. It boasted Foreign Consulates from all over the planet and two off world ones, the Colonial Kobollian, and Tollanian embassies. The compounds were heavily secured and somewhat restricted from the rest of the city, nonetheless that was understandable and the staff approved. They were after all, on a foreign planet where anything could happen.

Although living on Earth for a while, the circumstances of them actually being here on Earth still hadn't quite caught up to the small collection of Colonials. The disastrous conflict four years earlier where his people were literally slaughtered in that uneven battle should have precluded any more contact with the Earth people. However, he, his wife, and their small staff of eight, which included an anthropologist, a cultural specialist, and two high level security experts (one obviously a spy) had been allowed in. Most of the Colonial politicians suspected some type of trap, a need to acquire valuable hostages, a desire to find out Colonial weaknesses for a possible invasion. Few believed that the Earth people wanted to have a way to keep the lines of communication open and avoid war on a scale that no one wanted to, but couldn't help but to imagine.

However, it was still surprising that they and their small staff had been allowed an embassy on Earth. Adar's arguments, also backed up by President Goesel were enough to persuade the Quorum to all the formation of the Embassy. The price though had been high, sealing the political fate of Adar and damaging Goessel's standing with the political and religious Right especially after those dark days when people of Kobol were in an uproar. This one little colony world had slapped the combined military might of the Twelve Colonies around with impunity.

The Colonial Defense Force, so recently flushed with victory over the Cylons had been humiliated. The forces in the Sol system had been smashed, vaporized, and shown to be obsolete when going against the Earth's military. Colonials weapons proved completely ineffective against Earth shielding and even what had to be extremely thin armor made of metal never before seen by the Colonials. It was obvious that the Earth people had no concept of what tylium was, never heard of it and had went down an entirely different technological road using materials not known by the Colonials. Warships not completely destroyed in that ill-fated battle had been claimed by the Earth people (mostly whom hated the name Tau'ri) and added them to their small, but incredibly deadly space navy.

A frighten, tattered Colonial remnant ran from the Terran system in disarray, broadcasting the news of the disaster via the newly acquired subspace communications taken from the Cylons. The first action by the Quorum attempting to hide the disaster met with complete and utter failure. The numbers of personnel and ships lost couldn't be hidden. The Third Colonial fleet hunting Cylon remnants had been utterly decimated. The First and Second fleets too were far out of range at the time and had been unable to lend any type of assistance. The entire debacle had been the result of arrogance. The Colonial commanders had assumed that they could handle one small isolated planet in their holy quest to rid Humanity of its Cylon enemies.

They found out otherwise.

Agasha and his wife were among the throngs demanding answers. The people had been terrified of the new and – at that time – unknown enemy apparently deadlier than the Cylons and worse, protecting them. Without any reliable information the prevailing rumors being pushed by armchair pundits were that a new group of Cylons long hidden had resurfaced to save their beleaguered brethren. Another discarded rumor was that the fleet had run into hostile aliens. Most people despite the seriousness of the crisis had immediately rejected that possibility. An additional three days passed before the first rumors broke that the enemy might possibly be the fabled, so-called mythical Thirteenth tribe. As the rumor continued, shock ran through the colonies as the Thirteeners calling, themselves Tau'ri, obviously some perverse derivative form of the name Tauron, and why this name no one knew, were the ones who so savaged their brethren. Of course, as more information leaked from the press more and more people were forced to believe. Officials called for calm, explaining that this was simply a misunderstanding that the politicians would explain everything once official contact could be established with their wayward brethren. No one knew what to expect and in the immediate aftermath, the political upheaval would destroy several careers, including former President Adar's. He would lose the next election in a landslide even as he called for calm insisting that the Colonies were not in danger. However the Second and First Deep Recon fleets were immediately recalled from their holy mission. The Recon fleets joined with the battered remnants of the Third and escorted them for the year long journey home.

Uncertainty within the Colonies reached its peak when the survivors of the Third Fleet stumbled back to their first deep space station and started transmitting exhaustive debriefings. Again, despite security blackouts intercepted reports spoke of super bombs and energy weapons that burned through armor and eviscerated the most powerful ships of the CDF.

As expected, new rumors began to spread across the twelve worlds:

The Thirteenth Tribe were barbarians preparing to lay waste the Colonies with those weapons. The Earther people were savages who welcomed the Cylons with opened arms not knowing that they would soon be betrayed. The Thirteeners had fled Kobol because they were kicked out by the gods and now were planning revenge on the rest of the Twelve Tribes. The Colonies were going to become slaves of the Thirteeners. They didn't respect the laws of the Colonies and would kill all of the officials and install their own puppet government. The Earth people were more alien than Human. Half the fleet would go back to Earth and bomb them into the stone-age or worse in retaliation for helping the hated machines escape justice. From there the rumors became even more outlandish. But those rumors paled were insignificant compared to public opinion. Eventually, two prevailing views split the Colonies in half. There were those who demanded that the worlds prepare for an all-out conflict.

The other faction believed that since the battle had been lost that that was the end of the matter and chose not to pursue the matter anymore. This particular belief was the result of the classical thinking from the Colonial point of view. Intra-Colonial warfare between the different worlds had been defined by that thinking. If one army won, the battle was over. That way of thought was a form of self-defense against annihilation minimized conflict and loss of life across the worlds. Eventually, warfare between the colonies was frowned upon as a way to solve conflicts between brethren however Human have never been a peaceful species by nature. A substitute was found to resolve their differences without all of the blood and destruction inherent in war.

Cylons created by the Colonials were used to fight their wars and utilized as servants, essentially slaves – if such a thing was possible for machines which the Colonials didn't believe for an instant. But the Cylons evolved far passed their programming and learned how to hate, thereby proving that they were more than just mere machines. They rebelled and went to war with their former owners in a brutal conflict that killed tens of millions across the twelve worlds. Strikes and counter-strikes continued for several years until an uneasy truce was declared. Forty years later, they the developed humanoid bodies and prepared for a massive sneak attack. The main bulk of their plan relied heavily on the use of a computer-virus implanted in the military computers of the Colonial warships to be activated at the proper time. The plan however was uncovered by a doctor named Gaius Baltar, a certified genius who was unfortunately killed by a female Cylon agent days after the viral discovery. It was too late though, as a massive Colonial assault force engaged and destroyed Cylon units. All of their ships and their massive fortress were obliterated. Four small convoys consisting of five vessels each including a resurrection ship managed to escape, only to be ruthlessly hunted down by Colonial long-ranged recon hunter-killer fleets. Two of the convoys were destroyed within a month. One fleet escaped, abandoning and destroying their ships with the survivors struggling to live out their existence hidden on a small isolated world barely able to support life. The forth convoy exhausted and essentially helpless found unexpected refuge with the people of Earth and unknown to the Colonials were now on Home II. To the Colonials the matter had almost been settled except for the arrogant Thirteeners protecting the Cylon survivors, something that the Colonials were at a complete loss to explain other than to assume that the world was completely ignorant of what was going on in the galaxy. Both Cylons and Colonials knew the rules and Colonial hatred for their children ran deep. For both sides mutual extermination was the only solution.

But the Earthers were an unknown, so it came as a complete shock when the Earth ship 304 heavy warship _Regent, _commanded by British Captain Robert Ashe brazenly entered Colonial territory, easily bypassing just about every defense picket thrown up and casually stated that Earth wished to return the prisoners of war instead of trying to attack Caprica. They had also requested that two small embassies be built, one on Earth and one at Caprica so that a line of communication could be established in order to avoid all-out war and subsequent loss of life.

First response was quick, an immediate demand for the surrender of the Tau'ri ship Regent. The answer, of course, was an empathic 'no'. It wasn't war that Earth wanted.

The Earth captain proceeded to make a request that talks be at least considered before more hostilities could break out. That appeal was taken as a form of weakness by some of the Colonial military baring down on a ship likely responsible for killing thousands of their friends. The closest battlestar didn't even bother using standard ordinance but fired several nuclear missiles at the Earth warship before the message could even be completed. The Earth ship's energy shielding shrugged off three nukes as if they were nothing and then it crippled the offending battlestar. Colonial military officers in the know had an idea of what to expect but reading the debriefing of the battle (or the Great Calamity as they called that conflict) and seeing the actually results were two entirely different things and were not amused by their weapon's impotence. The arrival of three more Colonial capitals threatened to turn this Second Contact into a full scale war over the skies of Caprica until a screaming President Adar himself demanded an immediate halt to any more action under pain of immediate court martial and immediate public execution, a desperate measure to save billions.

Agasha remembered that day as if it were yesterday. The civilians were ignorant of the danger but the military and high ranking official weren't, and neither were the high-level government officials. The President and select officials were rushed to deep shelters built during the first Cylon war even while Adar screamed obscenities at the military commanders to cease offensive operations before the Earth started throwing around those super nukes and irradiate half of Caprica before it was all over.

The Terran warship had arrived to open negotiations, offering the branch of peace, not demanding sanctions or even worse, declaring war. The entirety of the armed forces of Caprica, had been thoroughly intimidated by one Earth small ship and the possible damage it could do. The Colonial Defense Force was incensed but the warships reluctantly backed off following the orders of the President.

The lost tribe had made a statement.

The Colonials everywhere heard it loud and clear.

Two days later, preliminary conditions were set and policies established for returning the POWs were finalized and the plans for an embassy initiated. The entire affair was done via wireless. Peace overtures had been offered however the Earthers were taking no chances and frankly neither were the Colonials. Political heads rolled like marbles in the days that followed. It took three more years before the embassy to be set up, however here he was, now on Earth but the situation between the two people were tense and the incident at the station had proven that the two people had to talk before they began killing each other.

Now that he was here, the collective observations of his people would be invaluable. The first thing he learned that the Earther people, or Tau'ri preferred to be called Terrans, or Earth people, rather than Thirteeners, Apellai, Earthers, Tau'ri, or even Tosevites (and where that name came from he had no idea and no one had been forthcoming about that yet). Apparently 'Tau'ri' was a name given to them by their alien allies and enemies (another shock that there was proof that aliens existed and had encountered the Earth people). Also, they used the name Tau'ri for the Earth people on many worlds (another shock) and despite heavy resistance, that name was sticking to them like glue.

The second was his own personal challenge in working with people who did not acknowledge the laws and culture of the Colonies of Kobol, indeed had no concept of them. He understood it perfectly but it still came as severe culture shock to him and his wife. These people had no respect for the law that had served the Colonies for almost a thousand years. Whether they were separated from the Colonials by thirty days or between two-four thousand years distance, it made no difference. They preferred their own laws and regulations and had zero intentions of changing, or taking their rightful place with their brethren. They had no intentions of submitting to Colonial rule. These people were aliens, foreigners by every definition.

The third and most amazing revelation was that the Earth people had recently developed a hydrogen fuel cell system for their automobiles and just beginning to this new technology to convert from fossil fuel to hydrogen and that was just the bare beginnings of that breakthrough technology. These people had discovered how to hydrolyze water and convert it into fuel and there was no end to the possibilities in sight! What he didn't know was that this technology had come from the Race, something that would turn the Colonial military upside down when it was found out…

As primitive as they were so obviously were in some aspects, their scientific achievements in others had thoroughly stunned him. The military aides with him were shocked as well seeing the military applications and resources that the Earth people had. How they developed this process hadn't been revealed but the Colonials needed to know and finding out how was set as one of their priorities.

At home, the military were building up at a tremendous rate. Earth was a true threat, but there were other, more dangerous things out there and the ambassador's people were alone in a dark, dangerous galaxy. As deadly as the Earth people were, they had the technology to help protect the Colonial people from was out there. He was here because the two people had to come together in order to survive.

What struck him next was the similarity of the Humans here, and their even more striking differences. If one didn't look at the stars or the oversized moon of theirs, he could almost believe that he was on Caprica or even Picon but then he'd see the people and immediately know that this world wasn't home. Although he wasn't a really religious man, the fact that he was surrounded by so many monotheists of so many different types had made him uncomfortable. In fact, there were so many religions and so many variations within those factions that he wondered how this planet had survived without imploding long ago. His own embassy had extra security stationed, not only because of its uniqueness but because there were some monotheists that were offended by its very presence, calling it the 'Greater Satan' and 'Colonial blasphemers', and those factions had made threats, in one case physically attacking him and his embassy by trying to plant explosives next to the building complex. The plan was discovered and the perpetrators caught but the Earth authorities didn't try to clean out the root core of the problem. There were entire countries screaming for Colonial destruction on religious grounds and for the life of him, he couldn't understand why the sensible governments of this world hadn't wiped out the lot of them for the greater good of everyone. The entire planet reeked of barely controlled chaos even worse than Picon in the old days. Earthers were very, very independent and he understood that they would never rejoin their brothers and sisters because they insisted that they not only weren't part of the Colonies but that the Colonies had ultimately come from Earth. The Earthers were not a united people but they were united enough to resist the truth. Kobol was the birthplace of Humanity, but they refused to accept it. After all, it was the truth wasn't it?

Well, that was his personal belief until two months ago.

It was then that he met the Tollians as the moved into their own embassy. When asked when they had separated from the Thirteenth tribe and started his colony, the ambassador had barely refrained from laughing in his face. The Tollanian told him matter-of-fact that his people were far more advanced than the Earth people and even they knew that Earth was the first world where all Humans originated from. The matter-of-fact statement rocked the Colonial to the core and he refused to believe it. He tried to convince the other Ambassador that Kobol is where Humanity originated from but the Tollanian looked at him with a mixture of pity and distain and changed the subject, leaving Ambassador Saltum frustrated and angry at the man that had challenged his fundamental belief of the of the nature of Humanity.

The Earth people, as well as the Tollanian staff, told him that the Lords of Kobol were really alien slavers who lived inside Human bodies and ruled as gods. He and the members of his staff had been some details concerning the Goa'uld and several other alien species and at first, he as well as the Colonial president, had been more than skeptical at the notion. More importantly it was initially believed that this was some form of deception by the Terrans trying to spread disinformation among the Colonial people. What caused him to be even more cautious was that the Terran ambassadors and foreign Earth leadership had been very forthcoming with the information. That openness made him all the more suspicious.

The Earthers were far to open about everything, their culture, their history, their planet. When asked about this, he was told that there was no reason to hide it; no way that they could. If the Colonials wanted to learn about Earth in all of its glory (minus their military secrets and national security, of course) then he was free to look. His people would have never allowed such freedom by a potential enemy.

Biological, anthropological evidence free for the asking. Proto-Humans. Mitochondrial DNA. Humanoid history dating back fifty thousand years… This entire experience, being allowed to Earth, establishing an embassy, speaking to the people – had been a trap, a very subtle one but a trap nevertheless. But it was something small, a seemingly small biological fact that had rocked him and all of his people to his core. Five fingers. Every mammal, every bird, every animal had five fingers in one form or another. The five-digit expression was dominant on Earth throughout the animal kingdom, proving that everything was related.

This simple evolutionary connection dating back as far as the Earthers could research. It didn't matter if it were avian, mammal, or aquatic, expression was there. Then there were the apples. Apple growing was a hobby of his, the fruit and seeds being brought from Kobol. The Colonies had more than two hundred and fifty six varieties and another two hundred subgroups identified. On Earth, they had over seven thousand five hundred known cultivars, not even counting the hundreds of the proto-fruit categorized! ! He could barely conceive of so many types, but Earth had them. Where did they originate from if the Colonies had taken the seeds from Kobol first? According to legend Kobol was dying. There was no way so many varieties could have survived when the Thirteeners were said to have left to find their own way? These and dozens of other little pieces of evidence didn't add up when compared to what he knew of the history of Kobol and the Colonies. Earth had very impressive evidence that couldn't be denied even if you were blind.

What was learned couldn't be unlearned. It could only be passed on and pass he did.

It was blasphemy of the highest order and when it was told to his government, via diplomatic pouch, the religious pontiffs had a fit! Sagittaron, and especially the collective world of Gemenon were incensed. The people of Virgon and Tauron were the most vocal in calling for holy war. The Colonies had been stirred up by fools more interested in increasing their popularity than the truth. The ambassador feared that either radicals in the military or the religious factions would try to incite the people in order to start a war and he prayed to all of the gods that the current President was strong enough to keep the Colonies from going off the deep end. Religion was one thing. Fear was another and fear seemed to be ruling his people now. One good thing that the ambassador had to cling on to was that the vast majority of the Colonial people seemed to have taken a wait and see attitude.

There was another thing that was of great concern and that was the current political climate at home. President Antonius Goesel had won the election on the coat-tails of the war fever that gripped his people, utilizing his hostile rhetoric and advocating a strong defensive stance against Earth and fortified by the heavy backing of the most powerful of the Religious orders of the twelve worlds. High Priestess Livia Sytomia had him by the scrotum and Agasha had to admit that he was more than surprised that the President had the political will to authorize the exchanging of embassies. It was his actions that had given him strength. He felt as if he was the dividing stone that kept both sides from trying to kill one another. If both sides could reach an agreement with one another, then there was still hope that millions of men, women and children wouldn't be consigned to their deaths because of political and religious ignorance. But in order to save those people, it required time and he prayed to all of the gods that the President was strong enough to keep the winds of war from destroying everything.

There was a lot of praying happening since he had arrived here on Earth. Ambassador Saltum and his people needed time to get a baseline understanding of these people he was just barely getting to know. But, pride was going to get them all killed.

The CDF was frightened by the fact that their most powerful war machine, the one that had beaten the Cylons was all but useless when compared to one little world that until a few years ago no one believed really existed. The religious leadership were – concerned (and 'concern' was a polite way of putting it) about a whole planet full of monotheists who had no interest in worshipping the rightful gods and who would fight to the death to protect their own demented beliefs. The belief of the Colonials was that the monos were a disease, a group of terrorist bent on destroying civilized society. The industries were frightened that the Earth technologies would cut into their profits if they were unmanaged by their Colonial brothers. The people were scared because of all of the rumors running rampant, half of which weren't true. He was frightened because if just one of those Terran or Tollanian ships managed to drop just one of those super bombs on Picon or Caprica, billions would die screaming. He wasn't sure how the Earth people would react in a war, and the only chance his people would have was if they committed everything at one time, killed all of the Earth ships and turned this world into a radioactive waste land before the Earthers could strike back. But even that wouldn't be enough as Earth's allies would surely take vengeance, and Earth 'did' have allies. He had met a Jaffa and was intimidate by his alien-ness – for a lack of a better word. And the Tollanians might be worse considering what had happened to them. He was still learning about Earth, just in the beginning stages really, but one thing he knew for sure, Earth people didn't easily let things go. There was no, 'we lost and it's over'. It was _'we remember what you did and you remember that you started this'_. It was another revelation that frightened him.

What technology and resources did the Earthers really have to be able to fight and be responsible, or so they claimed, for protecting dozens of worlds? The 'Protected Planets Treaty…was it real or something used to frighten the Colonies into leaving them alone? It might have been the truth or it could be an outrageous lie. As they had offered no concrete proof, he couldn't be sure. This was another reason to try and prevent a war with the Earth people. There were too many unknown variables, to many unknowns for the Colonial people to go and initiate some type of insane military action against the so-called Cylon lovers.

From everything that he'd been told, the Earth people knew that the Colonials had massive amounts the resources to bring to bear and that obviously disturbed them. If war was to break out he sincerely believed that the fight would turn into a bloodbath for the Colonies who would receive the worst of it, being gutted before they could respond with their numerically superior assets. The military believed this because after four years when one read in between the lines of the official documents it was apparent that the Navy brass was still demoralized and frightened of these Earth people combative capabilities. The top military officials believed that if events occurred that could precipitate war, then the CDF would advocate a scorched colony protocol performed on a scale worse than anything imagined against the Cylons at the worse point in the war, to be sanctioned as a first resort, not last. It was a fundamental change in the CDF's mindset. Fear made them think of the annihilation of a world. The only thing worse than that way of thinking was that the ambassador believed that Earth was too well protected and their retaliatory strikes would be total and complete and utter obliteration of the Twelve Tribes military and the civilization. It would be genocide on a scale imagined only too well by the Colonial president and the military top brass.

The President of this country had told him directly that Earth had anti-jump defenses, making it effectively impossible for any Colonial ship to jump close enough to effect Colonial firepower on an Earth target, and Agasha Saltum believed it. That belief was shared by the President Goessel and was one of the several reasons why the Colonials hadn't gone for all out conflict despite being technologically behind the Earth people. He needed to explain this to the President and the quorum leadership to make him understand how utterly dangerous these Earth people were and to do that, he needed to understand _them_. Unification through peaceful methods would never happen if that couldn't be achieved. Besides it was made clear to him that Earth was needed. Despite being an adversary, this world was also a protector.

However what was most tantalizing, yet frustrating was that knowledge that the Earth governments knew about the 'Door of the Gods' or the 'Gateway to the Stars' and how it really worked and were adamant about not sharing despite all of his pleas and that of the Colonial government for that information. Everyone on Earth knew about it but only a few knew how it actually worked and they weren't telling. The CDF had found one of the doorways on the inhabited world with the non-Colonial primitives, whose name he couldn't, for the life of him, think of now. The object was made of a substance unknown to Colonial science. How it got there on the planet, well, the primitives said that it was put there by the gods.

Actually, he admitted it was a good answer, but no one there knew how it worked and what it actually did since it had never been seen in operation. The object had power coursing through it but never seemed to fully activate no matter what the scientists who were working on it tried. As advanced as the doorway was, it had simple glyphs engraved in it whose meaning so far eluded everyone. It was important however the Earthers wouldn't share the secret. The Colonial President when speaking to President Hayes was never sure if he was being lied to or not. Instead all he was told was to be careful not to connect to a black hole, or to beware of giant bugs, or tri-dimensional entities that might consume you. And then President Hayes would smile, exasperating Goesel and Agasha. The Tollanian Ambassador said that Colonials were too immature to use the stargate as they called it. In fact, they said that the Earthers were too immature as well, but with them they made allowances. The Earth people had the key and weren't sharing.

Why were the Earthers so infuriating? Yes, his people attempted to detonate nuclear weapons on Earth but they also paid the price with the blood of thousands of loyal Colonials. Couldn't they see that the war was over? His conclusion: obviously not, which only strengthen his resolve to understand these people and recognize that they were stronger with their Colonial brethren than without a cold war notwithstanding. Some had to stand in between the gaps and throw reason at both sides.

* * *

Here, on Earth, the difficulty with the language barrier hadn't helped although the portable translators were very useful. However he felt that a personal understanding of the language could do things that a translator never could. That was where his wife came in. She was a protegee when it came to languages and she had already gained a solid understanding of _Americanan Inglasi_ or the more common Colonial term, 'American North' as opposed to 'Englanda Britannia', during their trip to Earth and had already proven herself invaluable so far. He loved that short, gray-haired whirlwind and was more than glad she had been willing to go with him to this strange, alien world.

"Ambassador, the diplomatic courier has arrived," his aide told him, interrupting his thoughts.

"Splendid," he beamed. Gods, he welcomed the interruption. "Have her come in."

"Yes, sir."

Direct transport by diplomatic pouch was one of the few ways to get secure messages back and forth to the colonies. Earthers were notorious for their abilities to intercept and decoded colonial messages via normal-or subspace communications. The ambassadorial staff didn't trust Colonial communications whatsoever even though they did use it for non-sensitive data transfer; and, he was sure that the Earth contingent was just as frustrated and cautious as he was. The Terrans had other ways to transmit sensitive messages, and it likely those the stealth probes in the Colonial system that the Earthers strenuously denied existed but everyone knew was there, were involved. Colonial Intelligence and the CDF still hadn't found them yet despite burning out resources to do so. Colonial stealth probes placed in Earth space were quickly discovered and 'accidentally' blown to Hades, further humiliating and angering Colonial Intelligence.

Colonial ships were not allowed to orbit, or land on Earth and the same was true for Earth diplomatic transports arriving in the Colonial star system. Diplomatic couriers and pouches were transferred from Colonial to Terran ships instead. From there they would be shuttled to Earth and the courier flown and then driven directly to the embassy.

"Ambassador?"

Agasha smiled widely as the tall blond entered his office. "It is good to see faces from home, especially one as pretty as yours." He was delighted to be able to speak a civilized language. Earth languages were a challenge to him.

CDF Colonel Thyma Trace gave the ambassador a crisp salute before grabbing his hand and shaking it vigorously. She was accompanied by two plainclothes security guards, obviously Colonial Intelligence, men who hadn't quite learned how to smile. Their eyes were constantly scanning for threats.

"Don't let your wife hear that," Trace returned. She smirked a bit as this was a common joke between the two of them.

"It's probably already too late," he answered smiling widely. "She likely has her own spies all over the place."

"If I were married to such a flirt as you, Ambassador, I would, too."

"Come in, come in and please sit," he all but demanded.

The proper words had been given and acknowledged: _No speaking about sensitive subjects in the open._ There had to be bugs everywhere just like there were in the Earth Embassy on Caprica.

"President Goesel sent you a gift, a small token of home," the Colonel said while handing him a small package. "It's to remind you that you and your staff are not alone and that he is thinking of you and is proud of the job that you're doing. He wants you to stay strong."

The ambassador looked at her strangely. That was an unusual message, somewhat foreboding. Quickly the man opened it up and his smile lit up once more. "Caprican dark amber Ambrosia," he said. "I will write the president and convey my thanks and blessings for such a gift and send it back with you. The spirits here are great but they don't have that taste of home. Speaking of which, how are things back home?"

"Quiet and peaceful," the woman carefully answered. "I've brought you the movies that you've requested and they have been translated into Apellai standard."

"Thank you," he acknowledged. "The Earth people here will find 'Caprica Winter' most enlightening, not to mention the documentaries on the war."

"They should be glad that the Cylons hadn't discovered this world during the first war. They would have been destroyed and would have never known why."

"Quite possible," the Ambassador agreed. Although I found 'Caprica Winter' to be somewhat embellished, it is an accurate rendition of the war between the Cylons and us. Maybe it'll explain to them the depth of our hatred of the Cylons and help them to realize that the return of those abominations for judgment is in the best interests of everyone. It will bring closure to the Colonial people and help mend the rift between our two nations. If our brethren learn more about us, our passions, and who and what we are, past history aside, then maybe reunification might occur within our lifetime."

"I'm sure it will," Thyma responded diplomatically. "The Apellai are Human after all and I believe that some things are tied by blood."

"Let us hope so," said Agasha. "But if blood isn't enough, then this galaxy is surely big enough for the both of us to co-exist until they come to their senses."

"May the gods so will it." She then handed him the briefcase containing the diplomatic letters. To her, these Apellai were Cylon lovers, the worst kind of trash, however it wasn't her place to say so. "We have a priority dispatch transmitted to us five days ago. You have been instructed to read this and then report the contents of this dispatch to the Earth Ambassador."

"Sounds grim."

"I wouldn't know, sir. Your eyes only."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, in his darken office, Ambassador Saltum sat unceremoniously consuming the expensive ambrosia straight from the bottle. His wife was coming to see him, would be here any minute, for him. Bless her soul.

"These fools," he murmured to himself. "Don't they realize what they've done? I could have made a difference here. I know it! All I needed was some time. Too late now."

* * *

Two hours later, General O'Neill and twelve others were sitting in the Situation Room facing a fuming Henry Hayes.

* * *

_**Now the glimpse of the Earth and Colonial views and opinion are done. Now begins the 'Day 12" arc where we see the Races response to the invasion. Earth's response and the Colonial response to what the word Tosevite means. Te Race is pissed but exactly what can they do? More importantly what will the Terrans do to an aggressive government one FTL jump away from Earth? Should they play Colonial Horizon and light everything up? Should they ignore the threat?**_

_**The next chapter explains what will policy will be established as a blueprint.**_

_**One point. This alternative story takes place about five years past the RAAB story arc. Disclosure has been done and ****most but not all countries have been incorporated into the IOA. I didn't mention that when I should have and as a result people have been misled. As a writer I say 'I'm sorry. My fault as I should have make that clear'.  
**_

* * *

_**North Korea has not been and it has been discussed why on another site which will not be done here.**** The Race uses hydrogen energy technology in canon and here Earth has gotten a hold of it and the technological boom is exploding, to coin a phrase, as scientist here discover new ways to use it every day in ways that the Race has never conceived of. **_

_**The Stargate, or door to heaven' has been discovered by the Colonials but they don't have a clue how to use it. They don't know that the symbols are images of constellations or how many points it takes to activate a gate - if you have an address in the first place. Unless they can find the Rosetta stone to even begin to operate the thing or dial an active address by mistake, I say to them 'good luck'. Even the Achen couldn't figure the gate out and they were far in advance of either the Colonials or Earth. **_

_**Thank you all for reading and with your patience as I continue my stories.**_


	14. Chapter 13 The 12th day part I

**CreepyReader: Okay, question. What is RAAB? RAAB or Reunions are a B(…) [now called Reunions are a Deleted] is a story written by Bob Regent on fanfiction net. It is the FIRST (His original idea here) story featuring a conflict between the Earth and Colonials of BSG2003. Look it up. He is also a ghost writer for this story which is wonderful for me. This story still tongue n' cheek in it when compared to the others. Enjoy, please.  
**

**Major Simi: Do, the Situation has escalated and the cold war may become a hot one. **

**Quite possibly.**

**Chronus1326: Sorry about the backstory portion however its integral to the story here and needed to be addressed. It also shows the butterfly effect of adding the Race into the mix.**

**Skipper137: At this point, the Colonials don't know how to use the stargate and without some frame of reference they won't figure it out in time. As mentioned before the Acshen couldn't figure out the gate and they were more advanced than Earth. And, no, that wasn't Kara's mother. Zeke is still alive…butterfly effect here.**

**Note: As I mentioned before, Harry Turtledove has a very specific speech pattern for the Race. In this story I do something similar but with the added instrumentation of 'translators' the speech pattern changes off and on. When speaking in the Race's dialect in which will be seen in the next chapter, the pattern will be closer to canon. **

**These next two charters are part of the 'twelfth day' arc which details Earth, the Race, the Cylons and the Colonials response of the fact that Home has been conquered. **

**Thanks to everyone on spacebattles for their comments and answers to my queries.**

**Chapter 13**

**The Twelfth Day-part I**

_**Home II Colony**_

_**City of Profellyia**_

_**Midday, 112 degrees:**_

Much like its counterpart, the planet now named Home II by the settlers of the Race, was almost perfectly optimal for colonization by the reptilian species which suited the Race just fine. Of course, there were adjustments and challenges in taming a new world that any new colony inhabiting a new life-bearing planet would face, such as new fighting diseases, encountering strange and sometimes poisonous plant and dealing with wild animal life forms. On Home III, the greatest difficulties facing the reptilian species was another reptilian-like species native to the planet. Analogous to the long-extinct Terran raptors, these reptilians with the insect-like eyes were egg stealers and with the Race's twice a year mating cycle, there were lots of eggs to steal. The first city the colonist had built, Praffiloss, had suffered greatly from the egg stealers and the males and females of the Race were demanding drastic action. This was by far the worst problem for the colonists and the defense forces purposed to eradicate the problem had their claws full.

The native egg-stealers were very smart, quite possibly as intelligent as the members of the Race during their pre-civilization period. They even used primitive weapons to confound the Race! That made them dangerous, but it also meant that they might one day become productive members of the Empire _if_ they could be civilized or reasoned with. Atvar, the fleetlord of the conquest fleet, as odd as it appeared, held out some hope that an agreement could be reached with the natives. Reffet the fleetlord of the colonization fleet held out none. However both of them were in agreement, if the natives of Home II could not be reasoned with quickly then they would be eradicated. As things were, the two species could not co-exist on the same world under these conditions and this was the Race's world now. They had claimed it and intended to keep it.

For Atvar, this turned out to be an important lesson. The two reptilian species subjected by the Empire the Rabotevs and the Hallessi had never been as aggressive as these Karsovites, as the Race called them, were. It re-enforced his convictions for a free-standing Soldiers Time – a permanent military force, protecting the population of Home II. The Tosevites had told them that there were no 'aggressive', dangerous neighbors in the area but it was wise to be prepared in case someone showed up. Atvar took this under consideration since the Tosevites were the very definition of phase 'dangerous neighbor'. His definition of dangerous neighbor was any world that was close to, equal to, or more technologically advanced than the Race, as impossible as that was once seemed. Good neighbors were like the Rabotevs and the Hallessi. Weak. Those species were conquered by the Race easily. But Tosev III was another matter altogether.

In spite of the fact the Conquest fleet had come to take over Tosev III, Earth, the Tosevites, or Tau'ri, or Terrans – and he was sure to use the proper phrase as not to antagonize them unlike some other members of his people, they had not used their super explosive metal bombs to destroy the fleet or the following colonization fleet, or Home for that matter. That act of mercy still surprised and in some ways confused him. It was something that Race would have not done. After the incident that placed the Race on Home II occurred, he, Straha and other fleetlords had long standing discussions as to what might had been. In all of those somewhat spirited talks, the consensus was that if the Tosevites had been Tosev-bound, without spacecraft, Atvar would have ordered the destruction of Tosev III by nuclear bombardment to keep them from one day coming in space ships to Home. If the inhabitants of Tosev III had not had spacecraft, they were still too advanced and too dangerous and one day might threaten Home. The prospect of something like that was too frightening to the Race and would not have been allowed. The explosive metal option was deemed the only viable solution to the dilemma considered acceptable by the fleet and shiplords.

Atvar would have willingly sacrificed a world, the conquest fleet, and the incoming colonists in order to protect Home. But the Tosevites had advanced beyond anyone's dreams and could fly to Home in advanced ships in a matter of minutes rather than decades! The Tosevites had the science to do such an impossible thing. They had also spared Home and gave them the colony world, Home II. They had been merciful. Why had they been merciful when the Race would not have been? Did they have ulterior motives? Absolutely, but what were they? These questions were ones that Atvar had no real answer to. The Terrans had gave them a world and in return they asked for the hydrogen technology that ran the machines of the Race. With all of their superior technology, why had they asked for that? The Big Uglies were strange and difficult to understand and that was another thing that irritated him. The Tosevites, Terrans, whatever… should be learning how to understand the Race, not the other way around!

It was shameful as he, Atvar, was known as the flirts fleetlord in history to have failed implementing the Emperor's orders. He knew that the other shiplords laughed at him behind his back, all except Straha. The one Shiplord he assumed to be the most spiteful, was the one who turned out to support him and his rank. Straha had understood whereas the others had not. That made him an ally. Atvar would never fully trust him, of course but still it was comforting in a perverse way that his one-time adversary would support him the most. Everything changed too fast, he hissed.

The fleetlord like every other member of his species, hated change.

Fleetlord Reffet, the Fleetlord of the Colonization fleet on Home II and the only true equal to Atvar, headed directly for his counterpart after hearing the hastily transmitted message from Home. The technician receiving the desperate plea was in a panic and the moment that Reffet had read it, he understood why. The message was as undeniable as it was terrifying and it forced the Lizardian to skirt desert sands to meet with Atvar bring the dire news. The shiplords of the colonization fleet were right behind him prepared to give as much moral support as necessary.

Reffet hated Atvar as much as Atvar hated him. Atvar never listened to him, always countermanding his orders and refusing to take orders himself as he was Reffet's equal. It was Atvar's fault that the Tosev III hadn't been conquered. It was his fault that they were on Home II, as pleasing as this world was, and not where the Emperor had ordered them to be. It was Atvar's fault that the seventy million members of the Race were stuck on this once unknown, albeit beautiful planet, almost a thousand light years from Home.

Reffet and his entourage entered the Central Military complex, a building that should have never been built in Reffet's opinion, to speak to Atvar. The fleetlord had a tendency to ignore Reffet's calls, however this information was too important to ignore, so Reffet came to Atvar personally. The fact that Reffet had contacted all of the shiplords of both the colonization and conquest fleet was an indication to everyone just how dire the situation was.

Atvar stood rigid as Reffet entered the large meeting chamber attempting to maintain as much control as possible. Reffet had ordered the shiplords of the conquest fleet to assemble despite the fact that he had no real authority to do so. He was ready to express his anger but something stopped him. Reffet's eye turrets were swiveling violently and his tailstump twitched almost uncontrollably. He was hissing to himself. Gone was his usual arrogance when confronting Atvar at any given moment. All those signs indicated that something was very wrong.

"I have received a transmission from Home, through the subspace transmitter that the Tosevites allowed us to have," he said loudly. "It was sent by the adjunct of the Emperor," and here, he respectfully lowered his eye turrets but quickly raised them back to glare at Atvar. "Home has been invaded! Home has been conquered!"

The hissing and yelling threatened to deafen everyone in the room. Reffet raised his hands and immediately most, if not all of the members of the Race quieted.

"Impossible!" Atvar yelled. "Who could have conquered Home?"

"They were Big Uglies!" Reffet screamed back as if that answer that was needed. "Big Uglies have conquered Home and we are too far away to help! It's all your fault. If you had performed your duties as you were ordered to, then this would have never happened!"

Atvar wanted to bite him and by the looks of it, Shiplord Straha wanted to bite him as well. "What is the content of the message," Atvar said as he strained to control his temper.

"The confirmation codes were authenticated," Reffet announced. "The message was detailed, but rushed." The entire congregation hissed in dismay. Communiques of the Race was never rushed. "The male who transmitted the message said that they would try to pass on more information later, but the invaders were actively trying to suppress all forms of unauthorized transmissions. The invaders are unaware of the Tosevite subspace probe above Home."

"And that is the reason why they were able to send the message," Atvar surmised.

"Yes," Reffet said, producing the Race's equivalent to a 2x CD player-recorder. The device had been invented two thousand years ago and had never been improved upon because there was no need to do so. Therefore it came as a shock when the Tosevites introduced them to DVD's, a technology far in advanced of anything they had imagined. Tosevites weren't even satisfied with that. They kept improving things. They did so with the speed of a malignancy and that frightened the Race. "I shall let you listen as it was addressed to all of the leadership of Home II, not just me, Fleetlord," he added after a moment, just long enough to make it an insult – the Fleetlord that failed.

Atvar again suppressed the urge to bite him. _'I will not bite him, _Atvar thought furiously. _I will not rip out his throat!_

"If the Terrans have conquered Earth, then why have they not disabled the communications probe hidden above Home? Without that communications device, we would never be able to communicate with Home!"

Reffet glared at him with one turret while the other swiveled around looking at the other males trying to gauge their reactions. "This inconsistency answer cannot be answered at this time. Perhaps they have forgotten?" he suggested.

'_I will not tear his tail off and feed it to the Karsovites!'_

It seemed impossible but if it were true, then Home was in trouble and here this scramble-egged brain piece of waste pellet was pushing to be the superior male at this most critical time. But, a quick look around him showed that several of the shiplords seemed to be in agreement.

"You may proceed to play the recording, Reffet."

He felt a small bit of satisfaction as Reffet bristled at not being called by his honorific. His head feathers, all four of them, stood straight up. Atvar couldn't help but enjoy the moment even at this most terrible of times. He couldn't help it; twelve thousand years of political intrigue controlled him and his culture. It was as natural as breathing.

The technician male took the disc from the Fleetlord and inserted into the player. Seconds later, the transmission stated. The entire room became as silent as a tomb…and they listened.

'_Superior males of Home II,"_ it began. _"I have given the proper codes to prove that I am Ssumaz Yunnanz, Chief Communications specialist and intermediary between the Leadership of Home and Home Two. Emperor Runshan acknowledges your support and has ordered me to tell you of our plight. I apologize for the hastiness of this transmission but the hideous creatures calling themselves the Kollbazzians in their language have conquered Home and can trace unauthorized transmissions. They claim to have conquered both Rabotev Two_ and _Halless One, but there is no proof to confirm or dispute this. Home has been subjugated by Big Uglies for the last twelve days. The emperor believed that it was the creatures from Tosev III but now suspects that it is the other Tosevite faction that they were at war against in the Tosev star system. But we are unsure. What is known is that Home has been completely overrun and as expected the males and females of the Race are unable to resist with our soldiers at Home II. Emperor Gradell," _and this time, the eye seen on the large screen turrets were raised up instead of down," _has surrendered Home to the aliens. You understand what this means."_

There was a massive hiss heard throughout the chamber. Gradell was not the Emperor and Ssumaz Yunnanz's eye moment proved that it was some sort of deception.

"_The One is free," _the aged male said confirming what everyone had already deduced. The Emperor was on the run. Such an event had occurred only once since the unification of Home fifty thousand years ago. "_But it is only a period of time before the deception is discovered. We have no way to defend ourselves, but we will keep the One safe as long as we are able. Superior males, help us. The alien leader who claims power has promised to severely punish the males and females of the Race if the deception is discovered. The One does not surrender. I must leave before I am discovered. We will try to contact you again. Assist us, help us. Help Home."_

The transmission cut off leaving scores of eye turrets staring at Atvar. His eye turrets were downcast as he was thinking hard. The 'One' had to be the emperor and possibly several of his guards.

_Oh, the calamity! _

"You are the fleetlord of the conquest fleet," Reffet announced. Interestingly, it sounded more like a plea than a statement coming from a male that had been creaming that a Soldier's Time was no longer needed just a few days earlier. That truth in no way made Atvar feel any better. "You are responsible for protecting Home and Home II. What will you do?"

Never in his seventy-eight years had a question frightened him more. Nevertheless, before he could stop himself, his snout opened and he replied, "I vow that I will free Home from the invaders or I will sacrifice myself trying to do so."

Of all the males within the room, only Straha looked at Atvar with a mixture of hope and skepticism as the other shiplords from both fleets screamed at him to tell of his plans to free Home. In the name of all of the emperor's past, he didn't have a plan yet! What did they want form him, to pull a plan out of his cloaca?

_So this is the loneliness of command,_ Atvar thought bitterly. Never had the isolation of command been so stark. But, it still hadn't given him the answer that he so desperately needed.

"We must find out what is going on," he declared. "Demand a meeting with the Tosevites," and here he used the Race's name for the Humans, "in the northern polar regions and the Cylon faction, as I come to think of it, within a quarter day. By the Emperor, demand it now!"

"It shall be done!"

_**Earth:**_

_**White House **_

Typically, and appropriately for such an occasion, it was raining outside. The storm front situated over the eastern coast had produced a squall line of storms heavier than the weather forecasters has predicted. In layman's terms, 'it was a dark and stormy night', when the President of the United States of America finally got off the phone with the Chinese Premier. The Armageddon clock was halted at twelve seconds before midnight but was still twitching. The twelve Colonies didn't know it; the pale horse had stayed its hand, but the blade was still being swung back and forth waiting for the order to unleash death and famine upon its population.

They had no idea how close their civilization was to utter destruction. If they knew of the phrase, 'pre-emptive strike now' being bandied about in the last two hours by the various governments of the Terrans of the Tau'ri, they would have collectively crapped in their pants. There was also another phrase that the Colonial people would have been appreciative of at this point in time:

_Ignorance is bliss. _

"Gentlemen," began a very tired and aggravated President Hayes. "I've just completed a three hour tele-meeting with the combined leaders of the International Oversight Advisory committee trying to keep our world from going to war and possible exterminating over forty billion Colonials. China's leaders, the Russian President, some members of our own military, and even the Tollians are justifiably concerned that the Colonials have established a beachhead within one jump of our star system and we weren't even aware of it! Let's face it, we screwed the pooch gentlemen. We saw that the Race wasn't a threat and we weren't as diligent as we should have been. We were so busy watching the big picture that the backdoor was left unattended. The Colonials have crept in that backdoor, gentlemen and our neighbors have been paid the price."

President-elect Earnest Boyd remained quiet for the moment, listening carefully as Hayes began explaining what could easily amount to war within the next few days. He was in his mid-forties, sporting a short gray-speckled natural. He was taller than Hayes and seemingly patient. However to those who knew him, he was dangerous when it came to defending what was his. Senator Kinsey's son, freshmen senator James Kinsey discovered that first hand, when the two of them fought over the Stargate Atlantis program.

James followed in his father's footsteps, trying to wrestle the program back to being under the auspices of the United States instead of the IOA. Unlike his father, he didn't have the talent, experience, or support that his father enjoyed. Boyd had vigorously opposed him, humiliating him nationwide in the process. Needless to say the two of them were bitter rivals.

Franklin Burnett, the British Home Secretary spoke. "You are certainly correct Mister President. I was under the impression that your country and Russian were scanning the space around us to so that we could avoid precisely this type of situation we find ourselves in."

"You're right, Home Secretary," Hayes said. "However as you also know, it costs money to scan such a large section and you country hasn't be all that willing to help share in the expenses."

"Which is exactly my point. Now, my county is willing to share in the expenses. This has been a wakeup call," he said, "for all of us. But we are not willing to allow the Colonials to approach our borders with impunity. Just as Russia tried to place missiles in Cuba and your country responded, so must the world respond to such a blatant violation of an enemy so close to our star system's border. It cannot be allowed. Britain will not allow it."

"Neither will we," Hayes said. "However I don't want to be known as the President that committed genocide because we're afraid of what they _might_ do."

"Agreed. This is why you've had limited support of my government, Mister President. We have no great love for the Race, however given that they have kept their word to us and given the fact that they have engaged our diplomats on Home II with respect and dare I say progress, we will not simply allow the Colonials take over their territories with impunity."

Boyd jumped into conversation. "I am being brought up to speed here and I want to make it clear that I'm not advocating genocide either, but we're just four years away from the fact that the Colonials came here and tried for conquer the world. They tried to nuke our planet and the only reason why that failed was because of our defenses. It wasn't an accident, it wasn't a mistake. They consciously tried to subjugate our world using city killing nuclear weapons. To myself and a lot of others, this action of theirs, conquering _our _neighbor's worlds and starting a military buildup within striking distance of Earth is a not-to-subtle declaration of war. We barely survived the Anubis invasion and the two subsequent attacks by the System Lords. The Wraith and Replicator wars thank God, were far enough away that we suffered no collateral damage. Now we have another conflict going on with the Pegasus galaxy with those aliens we don't even have a name for yet, not to mention the Astorath planning some sort of action. Then add in the factors that we are upholding our responsibilities protecting the worlds in the Protective Planets Treaty which the now-extinct Asgard passed onto us and we find ourselves stretched thin. We don't have time to play with the Colonials games. There are much bigger threats out there and although it pains me to admit this, it may be better to rid ourselves of the problem now and concentrate on the herd of elephants trumpeting in the room for our attention."

"Before I answer you, as the incoming president there are things you need to know about the Asgard," Hayes told Boyd. "The Asgard aren't actually dead."

"The world was informed that they died destroying the last of the replicators," Boyd said.

"That is what the British government was also led to believe," Burnett added.

"So you're saying that they're still alive."

"They're very much alive and kicking, both in this galaxy and Pegasus."

"This wasn't disclosed to my government," Burnett dryly stated. "The stargate program, hostile aliens, discovering new worlds and technologies and now this."

"I'm sure that your government have a few secrets that you haven't disclosed, such as L.I.G.H.T.'s real purpose, Home Secretary."

"True, Mister President. We all have our secrets, however this is an affair of galactic proportions. We understood and one of our greatest allies were effectively extinct."

"Yes, and this secret is being kept at their request. They didn't destroy themselves on their world in the last replicator battle as was publicly announced. The Asgard in our galaxy have, with our help, finally solved the cloning problem but they are also very vulnerable at this point. There are less than two million of them but they're having children and re-establishing a civilization unlike anything they've had before. Their survival was covered up so that their enemies won't attack them before they can establish themselves as a viable society. Only a few people are aware that they are still alive. You and now the British government…" He paused to stare at the British Home Secretary who merely raised his eyebrows at the president, "… know that the Asgard are still around. The Asgard in the Pegasus galaxy aren't," and here Hayes paused once more for a moment, "as friendly as the ones we know. They've lived a much harder life and it made that faction a lot more cautious, as you can imagine with all of the problems there. They just recently found out that their relatives here had survived. You'll be debriefed about them later."

"I look forward to hearing the details."

"As you've said, there are bigger threats than the Colonials out there, but we can handle them. Our planetary shields and disruption system can stop Colonial style FTL jumps from coming anywhere near our planet but their expansion into our general territory is a disturbing trend that we're going to have to stop. We can't trust them. We didn't anticipate this when we drafted the treaty and so technically Home's system and the other four systems the Colonials now occupy is not illegal from our point of view. Of course, the Race and the other two species now under Colonial control wouldn't agree but we don't have any agreements with them, yet."

"The Colonials have a fourth system near us?

"Yes, they do," the Home Secretary said. "They've parked themselves in a system twenty-five light years away from here. It's a planet that was part of Ra's dominion. It's well suited for Human inhabitation but for some reason either the transplanted population died out or Ra had them moved. The Colonials have very few planets in their sector able to sustain any type of life without support. We have a glut of planets here without Human life that Ra kept for himself. The Colonials being on that planet wasn't a problem as far as we could see. There are plenty of planets and room enough for us all. However in hindsight we see that they were planning to relocate much closer to us. We've been too remise worrying about deep space and not diligent enough worrying about what was next door. The point is, and it's a sorry excuse but a true one nevertheless, is that it's been barely twenty years since the Stargate has taken us into space. In that time, we've fought for our survival, been straddled with protecting planets we didn't even imagine existed. We've fought alien empires, gone to a distant galaxy, made alien friends, made stupid mistakes – this being one of them – and made enemies on several fronts in the process. We're still learning and making mistakes. But I don't want to have the word Earth associated with the word 'genocidal killers', if we can help it."

"On the other hand, "Boyd said, "if circumstances reaches that point, I will order our forces to engage and use whatever means available to remove the threat to Earth or any of the planets we are responsible for."

"I agree," Hayes said. "I wouldn't hesitate to wipe them out of they were a real threat to Earth. At the same time, we haven't wiped out the Jaffa and some of them are a bigger threat at this time, than the Colonials could ever be. However we eventually expected to get into a conflict in some form or another with the Colonials considering the last debacle, and that's why I insisted on our contingency plan instead of all-out war."

"It could backfire on us and we will have to explain our displeasure more stressfully."

"It's a possibility, Mr. Home Secretary, but if there's a chance of not killing billions of people, I will take that chance."

"Well, the members of the IOA agree with your arguments, however it if fails, we will take action. We must focus on the Hornets and not the mosquitoes during these unsettling times. The Secretary of State is informing our ambassador on Home II of our position on this matter even as we speak. I expect that I'll have to have a conversation with the leaders there before the night is out."

"President Hayes, England does have some reservations concerning the Race," Boyd added after a moment. "Four years ago they came to our world planning to conquer it. As I've been reading the transcripts from our military and ambassadorial staff, it's been made clear that if they could have, they would have used nuclear weapons to wipe Humanity out, because we are a potential threat to their civilization. If they had come just twenty years earlier, just before we discovered the stargate we wouldn't be having this conversation." He smiled thinly. "The irony here isn't lost on me. They were afraid that we could have at some time in the future threaten them and their survival. Their logical solution was to eliminate the problem before it threatened them. From their point of view, I can almost understand their reasoning, however, we dodged a bullet there. President Hayes, you could have ordered the destruction of the conquest and the colonization fleets and decimated Home and in the eyes of the IOA and the people of Earth, you would have been perfectly justified."

"I choose not to destroy them for the same reason I'm giving a chance to the Colonials. By all accounts, the Race are an honorable people. But, they are terrified of us because we're more advanced than they are, we're more aggressive, and they don't understand us. They expected us to conform to their views of everything when they conquered us and instead they were put on the defensive. The Emperor thought we would turn them into slaves and force them to become part of _our_ empire. They believed we were going to eat them."

Boyd blanched. "They believed that?"

"Yes, they did," he shuddered.

When we brought them to Home II, the Race had no idea why we had given them such a magnanimous gift. However that had the added benefit of acquiring some very nice technologies from them advanced but not so advanced that we couldn't easily reproduce. Their aircraft uses a hydrogen blend for fuel and are about a generation or two more advanced than our F-22s."

"And they work as advertised," Burnett snorted. "Beautiful machine, if only the pilots weren't afraid of fly the _Raptors_ or the _Peregrine_ upgrades."

"There is that," Hayes conceded. He ignored the embarrassment that threatened to color his face. "The Race's so-called Killercraft can be launched and recovered from suborbital carriers. Most of their vehicles use hydrogen fuels which we bargained for by given them Home II. They have a few other interesting technologies we've looked into and you've already seen the first fruits of those negotiations. With the Race, we're building up a slow but genuine trust. But as you've said we don't trust them yet which is why the colony Home II is so far from Home."

"It's a form of control," said Burnett.

"Yes, _it's_ a form of control," Hayes told the small group. "The emperor of Home specifically requested that we would not have any contact with them until they were ready." Hayes looked at the President to be knowingly. "They were scared to death and need some time to figure out what they were going to do. Home II is approximately eight hundred light years from Home. So, to communicate with their home world, Home II has to use our subspace communications systems and if they need to travel to Home or back they need our ships to do so. Right now they're reliant on us and that gives us the advantage. It's helped us control the pace of First Contact and at the same time smooth out the differences between our two species."

"Do we know how the Colonials discovered the Race and their subjects?" The Home Secretary asked.

"We're not sure. There had to be a lot of planning for them to pull this off, therefore they had to know about the Race for several years. Our analysts believe the Colonials may have discovered the Lizardians about four years ago either just before or just after their attack on Earth."

"That is the conclusion of our government, also," Burnett said. "As I've said, our government will stand by you and the contingency plan. However if its success doesn't materialize, then we will have no choice but to remove this threat as expeditiously as possible."

"Please thank your government for supporting the plan and my government looks forward to continuing our positive relations in the future."

"Our governments may disagree occasionally, Mr. President, however we are still close allies. There is still a problem, however. The Tollians are pushing for a definitive solution to the problem at hand."

Hayes did something he rarely did in front of foreign diplomats. He rubbed his forehead. _They're worse than the Russians during the cold war_, he thought. _Why couldn't they have remained pacifists?_

The Tollian ambassador had been the most vocal advocating for the complete and total removal of the Colonials from any star system within fifteen light years of Earth. Some of the suggestion included killing everyone on Home if it meant removing the Colonials from within striking distance of the Sol system.

"Attempted genocide will do that to a people," Boyd said.

"I do have a plan that allows us to use their aggression and allow them to vent at the same time. The last thing we need is for them to go off on their own and do something rash."

"That would be a bloody mess. May I ask what you're planning?"

"I'm interested, as well," added Boyd.

"Of course. I'll give you the details and then I have to speak to the Colonial ambassador." Hayes smiled viciously. "I've been delegated by the IOA leaders to speak to President Goessel." "I think I'll contact him before their dinner time. Maybe I'll give him an ulcer to match the one trying to grow in my stomach."

To be continued in part 2 of 'The Twelfth Day'

**Background information for those who care:**

**Colonial names for Earthers: Earth people, Earthers, Earthians, Earthinians, Tau'ri, Terrans, Apellai, Those arrogant SOBs.**

**Earth names for the Colonials: Colonials, the 12 tribes, Kobollians, Those ignorant SOBs.**

**Race names for the Terrans: The Tosevites, Tosevites of Tosev III, the Terrans, Humans, Big Uglies; Tosevite Malignant virus, the creatures with turfs of fur on their heads and the big bombs, bad neighbors.**

**Race names for the Colonials: The Kobollians, Tosevites of Kobol, Big Uglies, Big Uglies of Kobol, the conquerors, the uncivilized creatures with turfs of fur on their heads and the big spaceships.**

**Earth names for the Race. The Race, Lizardians, mini-luggage.**

.


	15. Chapter 14

_** Chapter 14**_

_**The Twelfth Day-Part II**_

_**Home**_

_Winning the war was so easy._

The Colonials couldn't have asked for an easier victory for their forces. They had orbital supremacy. The indigenous population had no ability, indeed had no intentions of fighting back as their emperor had decreed that they remain peaceful. Stunningly, they actually obeyed! With the exception of a very few Lizardians becoming frustrated and aggressive, there were few incidents. But victory is a two-sided coin as the Colonials were just about to find out. The winning of the peace was proving to be much harder.

The first twelve days were easy, however inevitable problems were beginning to crop up. Food deliveries to the major cities had been disrupted by heavily enforced curfews, leading to shortages and Lizardians who had never ever suffered from hunger and the lack of once easily available consumer goods in several population centers were beginning to suffer. The Race equivalent of malls were running out of supplies as the males and females rushed to acquire as much as they could before critical items disappeared. Then the first riot occurred. It wasn't a riot as Humans understood the term. It was more of a controlled panic as the supermalls on Home had announced that they would be cutting their hours, or closing altogether due to lack of incoming supplies, essential materials and foodstuffs. Unsure what was happening, there was a citywide rush to buy as much as possible.

Colonial units, trained for pacification of an alien, possibly violent species, misinterpreted what was happening. Under normal circumstances, twenty thousand years of human culture and biology gave them a unique understanding of what would happen under similar circumstances. However these were aliens and their mindset was completely different. The Lizardian rush towards the malls hissing and screaming in their own language.

What was known about the Lizardians indicated that once conquered, they would most likely accept their fate and not even fight against their conquerors. That fact was acknowledged time and time again by the Colonial brass, but the occupying forces couldn't quite believe it. It just wasn't normal.

_It wasn't Human. _

Translator units couldn't keep up as the crowds rushed toward stores throughout the cities. A few Colonials thought they were being assaulted. Shots were fired. There were several Lizardian causalities. Thoroughly unused to such violence, more of the Race panicked. A few juvenile males attacked Colonial soldiers with their teeth and claws, biting a few of the men and women. Several of the adult males tried to stop the attacks. All of them were shot down. Fearing retaliation, the cities were placed in full lock down. Fourteen billion males and females of the Race were effectively trapped in their own homes. That did little to halt the rising panic. There were several acts of looting specifically within the food markets.

Quorum Adjutant Antwann, acting under the orders of the Governor of Home, ordered all looters be shot as such disobedient actions could not be permitted. General Byants immediately countermined the order, stating that his troop didn't have the responsibility to shoot these aliens down in the streets because they were desperate for food. There was a tense stalemate between forces loyal to the governor and the men and women of the CDF; however, in the end Antwann backed off.

Tempers on both sides were starting to boil.

_**Warstar**_ **Poseidon: **_**orbiting two hundred miles over the planet designated Home**_

"Shuttlecraft _Atlantica_, you are cleared to land on Delta one."

"_Acknowledged, _Poseidon_, proceeding to Delta one."_

Fifteen minutes later, six of the special pontiff guards formed an honor guard as Countiso Iblison, First Priest of the Gods, Governor of Home, finally stepped off out his personal shuttle onto the deck of the warstar. Twenty guards saluted him as he headed directly towards Admirals Westergyne and Jameson. Both men gave him crisp salutes.

"The gods blessings upon you for a job well done," Iblison said as he placed his hands on each of the men. Smiling, he said, "You see, everything went according to plan. The natives are pacified and soon they will be under our complete control."

"Things are under control for now," Westergyne grumbled. The last thing he needed was this this priest touching him. Jameson didn't seem to enjoy the experience either, but apparently, Iblison hadn't noticed, or didn't care to notice. "The situation is very fluid. Talking with these aliens is not the same as understanding them. The shipment of aliens off world is proceed as scheduled, but movement of essential goods to the cities is behind schedule. We need to increase product to the cities, or we'll have total chaos. And it's been too quiet."

"Don't be such a pessimist, Admiral," Iblison said, understanding exactly what he meant. "The gods protect us. As soon as we finalize our control over the farms and market industries, everything will be back on schedule. As for the Apellai, they won't dare attack us here. We're established and this world is ours. They haven't made claim to it and we mean them no harm so therefore we aren't a threat to them, don't you agree?"

"Our very presence here is a threat to them," answered a very blunt Jameson.

"Trust in the gods," the priest said. The way he said it almost caused the admiral to take a step back. "There are forces in play that you're unaware of," he said cheerfully. Now, is my subspace connection ready?"

"Yes, Governor."

"Good, I would like to use it as soon as possible."

"This way, Lord Iblison."

"That's Governor Iblison," the priest corrected.

Iblison bowed deeply at the screen. High Priestess Livia merely lowered her eyes at the man.

She spoke first. _"Blessings be upon thee, Priest Iblison. You meet with success."_

"And my blessings upon you Priestess Livia. I miss being in your presence. It's been too long."

"The curse of deep space travel, I'm told. _"I've read the report that you gave to the president and the Quorum. I confess that it was more optimistic than I would have given credit for. Your control of the Emperor of Home is not unexpected, but surprising nonetheless."_

"With the right leverage, the Emperor was most pliable. These rigid thinking creatures here are surprisingly malleable, as it were. As I reported to our president, if our forces enter a town, they can leave knowing that it will remain conquered whether we are present there or not. It's the same for the other parts of their empire. They've been trained well. It's quite amusing."

"_That's good to hear that our intelligence on them was accurate. But I've heard that there have incidences of looting and damage to property on the planet."_

"That's to be expected," Iblison answered quickly. "Any incidences of disobedience has been put down and if it continues, I will resort to more extreme measures. The emperor is aware that nuclear weapons are an option. He will control his underlings. However there seems to be a problem with some our forces not willing to obey orders."

On the screen, the woman scowled. _"We had not heard of this. In what way?"_

"Some have refused to deal with incidences of looting in a manner most appropriate for the situation. Loyalties are coming into question."

"_Have you answered informed Admiral Westergyne? How did he respond?"_

"He wasn't receptive to my requests," Iblison answered her. "That insubordination is something that I will address shortly. It's my authority that is final, not the military's."

"_Iblison, choose your battles carefully_," cautioned Livia.

"Of course."

"_Now on to something more to my interests. I've read of their resources and intelligence, but what about their souls? Since you've been here, has there been any evidence that they have souls?"_

"My opinion stands," Iblison answered. "They are intelligent; self-aware but they are as soulless as the Cylons we created. I've seen nothing that has changed my mind. They are more than Cylons, but they're still animals. It's true they believe in dead ancestors but that will change. Soon they will serve the gods of Kobol as they were meant to. We have complete control of every one of their imperial worlds and we've already begun transporting these creatures off world to our other colonies and sites. As more transports arrive we'll remove as many of these three species as possible. Once isolated we'll be able to train them to do what is necessary. Once properly trained suspect they would make passable soldiers. In two to three generations they'll make wonderful little servants more than willing to do our bidding. As we establish more colonies we'll need the labor and the food sources."

"_I hear you're still getting some resistance to that,"_ Livia smirked.

"A temporary setback, I'm sure. When our new colonist and worlds start suffering from food shortages, when their bellies start rumbling, I'm sure that minds and taste will change dramatically, don't you agree?"

"_I'm not the one who will be leading the charge for such a radical change in diet."_

"It's a logical extension of the new reality. Remember, our original 'guest' had assumed that we would eat them. But, we're still in our infancy on the subject and the situation here is still fluid. The Apellai as of yet, are either unaware or unwilling to do anything, but I believe that they won't start a war over the conquest of a bunch of animals. There are too many other things to worry about than us. If they do attack us, they will be the ones who fire the first shots; they'll show the galaxy that they're beasts, willing to do anything to maintain their illusion of power."

"_Not everyone agrees. There are those in our order who are beginning to doubt the righteous of our actions."_

High Priestess, we must not allow those who doubt interfere with the gods' will. The Apellai signed the treaty. They were the sons who stipulated the conditions," he growled. "The Jaffa," and here he allowed his distaste of the thrice-cursed sub-Humans to show in his voice, "we encountered, acknowledged that the Apellai will honor their treaties. It's clear that their reputation is important to them. The Jaffa are the ones we can't trust to keep their word. The will have to be cleansed when the time is right. The Apellai have to honor it whether they allowed loopholes in it or not, but time will tell."

"_Enough. We don't have much time and I am interested in your reports on their religion and how we can modify the false beliefs to our needs…"_

_**Home II-Northern Region**_

Ambassador Jonathan Yeager stepped out the Embassy into the warm air of Home II. It was seventy nine degrees – winter, and it was glorious. The twin stars of Rigila Kalipson IV were low in the sky, barely reaching halfway towards their zenith before retreating back to the horizon seeming to skip across the huge dunes that littered the landscape. PXD-448. It wasn't Earth, but he could deal with it as had his wife and his son, Sam, named after his late father. Thinking of his father brought a wirily smile to his face. His father was a baseball player in the minor leagues before the Great War had started. He wound up being an intelligence officer during the war, able, as he once described it, being able to think outside of the box, something he attributed to the fact that he was such an avid reader of science fiction. And, thinking about that made him smile a little more.

He would have loved being here on another world, speaking to a race of intelligent lizards. What type of ambassador would he have been if they had swapped places? Well, he'd never know for sure, but most likely his father would have been an excellent one for Earth.

The Race delegation would arrive in twenty minutes. Normally it would take at least nineteen hours flight time to travel from Profellyia to the Northern Regions by air, but they were coming by shuttle which in and of itself was another indication that they knew that Home was in trouble. Jonathan had just been briefed via subspace a little more than an hour ago. There had been no time to inform the Race, who obviously had just found out approximately the same time as he and his staff had. The Cylon contingent had no clue as to what had happened but they realized the urgency of the request and were already at the Terran Embassy. They arrived quickly as both the Terrans and Cylons lived in the same town, Cylonia – _I will not smirk, not again! _– having an embassy of their own less than two blocks away from the Terran one.

The Race prided themselves on being punctual and this day was no exception. Within the hour, the embassy conference room was filled with members of the Race and the Cylons starting at Yeager expecting answers. Clearly both Fleetlords were anxious, nervous even, as their tails twitched uncontrollably, a sign of agitation. A contingent of Race soldiers were waiting on the outside of the gate being guarded by an equal number of intimidating Terran marines. The Race security escort were confused as to why they were watching their Terran counterparts holding loaded weapons half pointed at them, not having been given any reason as to why they were there.

"We have just been informed that Home was attacked twelve days ago. It wasn't us that conquered your world," Ambassador Yeager told the irate males.

"You must have!" Fleetlord Reffet all but screamed. "Big Uglies attacked Home. You are Big Uglies, therefore you attacked and conquered Home!"

Fleetlord Atvar and Shiplord Straha remained silent for the moment, allowing the ranting Reffet to do the speaking as was his right. Being the de-facto leader of the civilian population of Home II, he was the male that would lead the charge for the truth. Both of the males listened closely as the Terran translator devices performed their function. However they didn't exclusively rely on the alien devices. Minor Diplomatic Functionary/ Senior Shuttle pilot Nignxe was present, performing a running translation from English to Race standard and passing along observations that he'd notice, something that the other members of the Race would never detect.

The male had shown an aptitude for speaking alien languages which included English and Caprican standard. His time associating with, and some of his fellow Lizardians used the word obsessing with, the Humans had given him some unique insights on Humanity. A damaged, but recovering Caprica Six trusted him more than any of the Humans she'd been associated with for the last four years. Yeager considered him a friend like some of the other Cylons and Terrans in the town. As a translator, he taught both humanoids the language of the Race even while he learned theirs. It was to his credit that both Atvar and Straha trusted those observations and the running commentary.

Before we begin, Ambassador Yeager, I demand that you turn off the cold air," demanded Fleetlord Reffet. "Its presence does not show respect for the Race or the seriousness of this meeting."

"This building stands on land granted to the home world of the Terrans as per our agreement. The Race has no right to dictate what temperature we prefer in our territory, just as we have no right to dictate what the conditions should be in your territory. You can only suggest but the air-conditioner stays on."

"You conquered Home, and now you try to freeze us," Reffet hissed indignantly.

"I knew it!" Cavilus whispered to Caprica Six. "Typical Humans. They couldn't wait to conquer Home and enslave an innocent species. What are their plans, use them as cannon fodder or perhaps a dietary food supplement?" glaring somewhat triumphantly, he added. "Typical Humans, they're all alike."

Caprica rolled her eyes. Cavilus was such a blow-heart, almost as bad as his 'brother', Cavil, Caprica and Selyne Six, Boomer a number eight model, and Simon Agragro, a number Four started at the number One in frustration. The Ones always had delusions of leadership and that irritating fate that had risen to the fore. Right now, he needed to keep his mouth shut until all of the facts were known.

"Fleetlord Reffet, members of the Race, we did not attack your world," ambassador Yeager told them. "We have no interests in Home other than to continue cultivate a friendship between your people and mine. If we wanted to conquer Home then we would have destroyed the conquest fleet first. If we were interested in conquering Home, then we would not have freely offered Home II for your colonization fleet. If we had conquered your world, then we would not be having this conversation."

"As I was saying," Yeager continued, unperturbed by the One's whispered ranting. This particular One objected to everything so frequently that Jonathan was immune to it. "We have discovered that Home and the rest of your empire, Fleetlord Reffet, were invaded by the Kobollians, the Colonials of the twelve colonies. They were the ones who conquered Home."

"I knew it!" Cavilus whispered again. "Typical Colonials. The only thing they can think of since they can't conquer Earth is to conquer Home and enslave an innocent species," he said, completely ignoring what he had said mere moments ago."

_Why in the name of the One God did we bring him here_? his fellow Cylons thought.

Reffet was unconvinced. "Why should we believe you? You change as quickly as the wind. You could have changed your Tosevite minds and covet Home for your own empire, I correct myself, not-empire."

"If you Tosevites -Tau'ri have not attacked Home," Atvar cut in, causing his counterpart to glare indignantly by this perceived insult, "why would the other Tosevite faction do so? How did they discover Home?"

"I have a theory," Cavilus said. His fellow brothers and sisters glared at him, daring him to say something stupid. "It's likely that the Colonials have been scouting Earth territories looking for colonies or small isolated outposts; looking for weaknesses that they could exploit. They probably found Home during one of their searches. That's one theory. Another is that they found it when they were tracking us."

"Those are some of the theories we have as well," Yeager said. "Fleetlords, although they are Tosevites by species, they are not by planet," Jonathan corrected. "Fleetlord Atvar and Shiplord Straha are aware of the battle fought in my star system. The Colonials tried to do the same as your conquest fleet, we did not surrender to them. We did not allow the Cylons to be exterminated."

"Another Tosevite faction," grumbled Reffet.

"Yes," Confirmed Yeager quietly. "They are our children."

Every single Cylon in the room, look up in stone cold shock. Together, as one, they screamed, "WHAT!?"

"My Gods!" Both Three representatives, Deanna and Selina were in states of shock.

"Isn't that one of our dreams, to be acknowledged?"

"Yes," spurted Cavilus. "But, why now? What's the angle?" asked the very suspicious Cylon. "What's their plan, telling us that they accept us like this?"

Yeager was unperturbed by the not-unexpected outburst. _Be careful what you ask for. You just may well get it._ Looking at the shocked and in some cases, angry and fearful faces he said, "There are those who have called us and by 'us', I mean Humanity 'young'. For so many of us, we didn't understand what these others were trying to tell us but in time we are beginning to learn exactly what that means. Yes, Terrans are young. We are far from a mature race. We are prone to making mistakes, but we are just now beginning to understand now how to correct those mistakes or at the very least acknowledge them just as we are beginning to acknowledge our responsibilities. The Cylons here are a people created by us." He turned to the Race. To make myself clear, we, the Terran-Tau'ri people did not personally create the Cylons but they are still a part of us. I've said that there are several species consider Humanity young. Perhaps we are," he said. "We have so much to learn. But if that is true, and it is likely, then the Cylons are infants, children who were created to be slaves, given no rights, not acknowledged to have souls by the ones who gave birth to them. Do Cylons have souls? Does the Race have souls?" He didn't smirk as the Lizardians looked at him, deeply offended that he would dare insinuate that they _didn't_. "Does Humanity have souls?" he continued. "I am not sure but I like to think so. However we owe it to everyone seated here to find let these Cylons have a chance to find out and to mature into a species like everyone else here. '_Ah, Star Trek, thank you_.' He turned to face the Cylons once more. "The governments of the Terrans understand what you're intentions were for the Colonies. It was monstrous. Your temper tantrums would had have you wipe them out to the last man, woman, and child. Then, we would have been at war, when you found us or if we had found you. You would not have seen us other than anything other than Humans who enslaved you. Ironically, these events may have been good. You lost to the Colonials and in doing so have a chance at survival and the possibility to grow in ways that you've never imagined. Besides as you've said, isn't this what you always wanted?"

"Yes! But…"

Deanna was about to continue, but the ambassador pushed on before one of them could speak. "I have been informed by my government to explain a short history that none of you are aware of. We have encountered artificial entities before, created by our distant ancestors." Those words gained the Cylons their complete and utter attention. "The synthetic forms called replicators were treated in much the same way as you were. They wanted to join with their creators but were rejected because as advanced as they were in the eyes of the ancients they were mere machines, advanced ones but nothing more. The Alteran replicators rebelled and tried to wipe out every ancient they could find. Then they came after us and any Human anywhere for the same reasons why the Cylons wanted Humanity dead and possibly Earth as well," he added staring at the Cylon group ho were studiously looking anywhere but into the eyes of the ambassador. "We were forced to end the defective replicator forms as well as the advanced ones in order to survive someone else's error in judgment. They were not like you Cylons but we learned from that experience. This is why the Terrans defended you four and a half years ago, acknowledging your right to exist and we will not allow the Colonials to eradicate you if it is our power to do so."

Caprica was visibly shaking. "We want to know more," she said for all of them.

"My government has given my staff and me permission to provide you with the information. But for now we must deal with the issue at hand."

"Yes," Reffet said. "Tosevite and Cylon political differences do not concern me. I want to know why you have started a war with the Race."

"The Terran Tosevites did not conquer Home, Reffet," Atvar hissed. "It was the Kobollian Tosevites. Have you not been listening? The truth is obvious. The faction that attacked Tosev III while the conquest fleet was in the system are the same ones who attacked Home. They were the ones who tried to destroy the conquest fleet hiding behind Tosev IV."

"If the words that Fleetlord Atvar speak are true, then when will you return the conquest fleet to Home so that we can save the members of the Race from your malignant species?" Reffet hissed indignantly. Then he turned to Atvar and continued his tirade. "You have always complained that there should be a longer soldier's time. I now agree with you. When will you start the journey to save Home?"

"The plans will be put into motion immediately. We must prepare for travel and when the Tosevites use their faster than light drives," and here Atvar paused, still not believing that there was such a thing as FTL and why the Race hadn't discovered it first. "It will take two years before we can prepare to lift off and begin the journey to liberate Home."

"Two years!" Cavilus huffed. "That's an eternity to the Colonial army. You might as well hand them the conquest fleet, too. By the time you reach your planet, the Colonials will be so entrenched there that nothing you could do would get them off of Home. Humans are like the purple itch that hides and multiplies underneath the Race's scales. They'd destroy it before they leave. Trust me, I know how Humans think."

"You are Human, too, if not Terran, Tosevite," Shiplord Straha casually mentioned.

"I'm Cylon," Cavilus sneered.

"Then, I must be mistaken then," Straha retorted. "Did not the ambassador say you Cylons were their offspring? If this is true, then you are derived of the members of the Tosevite race."

"Well, it's a technicality," Cavilus protested. "The point is even if you get there within, four months, you'll still be too late to do anything to save Home. It's so far away from the twelve colonies that the place will be a fortress with more ships and defenses than you've ever seen. The Colonials will have enslaved your people, possibly ship them out to other worlds and there will be nothing left but ashes before they leave."

All of the Lizardians hissed in horror at the thought of Home being wrecked, however it was Reffet who protested the loudest. His fear more so than any of the others, was palpable.

"You are wrong! Atvar and his soldiers will force you Big Uglies away from Home."

Caprica spoke now. "I'm afraid that Cavilus may be correct," She said with a hint of sadness. "You have the weapons but not the ability to free your people from your Colonial oppressors."

Natalie Six echoed her sister's belief. Unlike Caprica, her hair was a dark brown and she was more relaxed than her sister. "The Colonials must be desperate to have come so close to Terran space and conquer Home. They will not leave without a fight and they may scorch Home if they are forced to flee. I'm sorry," she added. "You have Home II and they are unaware of its coordinates so it is safe. It may be better for you to secure Home II until one day you are strong enough to liberate Home. We can help you with this and I am sure that the Terrans will help."

"Of course they will," Reffet answered. "It is their fault that this horrible thing has happened. And it is Atvar's fault for not conquering the Tosevites when he had the opportunity!"

Ambassador Jonathan Yeager breathed heavily as he prepared his response. Everyone was now staring at him. As the lead diplomat for the IOA and the United States, what he said right now would determine the fate of the Race and everyone knew it.

"In anticipation of this request, the government of the planet Earth has a response to the leadership of the Race," he told them. "What I will say to you, I will say in the language of the Race so that there will be no misunderstanding. For those who do not speak the language, please use your translators." He paused for a second to turn off his translator as both Reffet and Atvar seemed to shake. "To the leadership of the Race, represented by Fleetlord Atvar of the conquest fleet and Fleetlord Reffet of the colonization fleet," he began using the language of the Race. "Why should the government of the Terrans help you? We have no official agreement with the Emperor or with you. You came to our world to conquer it with ships, soldiers, and weapons. You would have used your nuclear, or as you call them explosive metal bombs, on our cities to try to conquer our world forever. You would have used those weapons to wreck the planet Earth because you would have feared us because we were stronger than you believed. If you had conquered us, you would have brought colonists to take rule over my people and my world forever. You would have destroyed our culture and replaced it with yours.

"You showed us documents and told the Terran government that your Emperor and the past Emperor owned Tosev III legally and you demanded that the Terrans turn the planet over to you. We refused and we did not dispute the documents by killing all of the members of the Race. We had ships and weapons that could destroy your conquest and colonization fleets with a flick of our hands. We were too strong for you. Because of our strength, you believed that we would destroy your people and destroy Home. But we did not. We did give you another planet, Home II so that the members of the Race could safely colonize it without loss of life. The government of Earth wants to establish peace with their neighbor, Home. The Emperor of Home, using the Race's caution as a guide, decided not to communicate with us directly because he wished to think about the responsibilities of associating with a race that was strong as, or stronger than his people. We honored that decision. But the Emperor would not speak to my government because he had not made a decision of his own. But we did speak to the Fleetlords of Home II and although we have no official agreements, neither have we not gone to war. We have aided you and you in return have given us some of your instruments for study. My government has a place of residence here so that our people could speak to one another face to snout. We have opened ourselves to the members of the Race, but the Race still have documents that say that the Terran world is theirs. With those documents you could try to conquer my world again. As long as those documents, exist my world will not help you. As long as you will not make agreements with us so that we can support each other, we will not help you. We did not conquer Home. We will not stop you from liberating Home but you will do so without our help. If you wish us to trust you then my government wishes to have agreements that both sides can honor. Treaties will be honored on both sides and we will come to the aid of each other. But the documents conferring Tosev III, also called Earth, the home world of the Tau'ri, called Terra by the race called Humans who live here, must be nullified and officially destroyed. If these documents are not destroyed and new agreements reached, then the Race is free to take their ships using your best speed and return to Home after seventeen hundred years of travel. My government has also declared that if the invaders use Home as a military base to attack my world, we will remove the Colonials but we will wreck Home in the process of killing the Colonials. Millions, possibly billions of the members of the Race will die along with the Colonials. We will be sorry that Home and the other planets of the empire will be destroyed but Home II will survive and the species of the Race will not be extinguished. That destruction will not be the best solution for Home or its people, but it will be the best solution that will serve the people of the planet Terra."

Reffet was too shocked to say anything. Atvar looked as if his cardiovascular pump was about to stop. Only Straha managed to speak breaking the silence that had suddenly filled the chamber.

"You would do that to our people in such perilous times as this? I believed that our people could peacefully co-exist and that you would one day be integrated into the empire as equals."

"What you have just said is exactly the point of our contention, Shiplord Straha. The Race has shown no change in acknowledging my species the right to self-rule. I believe that my people and yours can co-exist as more than just dangerous neighbors to each other, but as true neighbors. My government wants the agreement. The Race honors such agreements and we will honor ours as we have honored our agreements with the Cylons. We wish the trust the Race so that one day, many years from now the Race won't try to conquer us again and we will not have to crack your planet apart like an egg smashed upon the rocks. The agreement that we want will protect us both." He turned to his military attaché. "Colonel Wilson, may e have your opinion?"

The tall gray-haired man took an instant to stare at Atvar before addressing him directly. "I have no doubts that your males are brave and willing to fight," he said using the translator attached to his collar. "But you will lose if you go against the Colonial military in direct engagements. An assessment of your military's equipment and personnel concludes that you would be slaughtered within hours upon contact with the enemy of equal strength. Your weapons are for the most part comparable; your training is not. Your air superiority killercraft pilots don't have the training necessary to counter a Colonial Viper or Raptor without being shot out of the sky with ease. Your landcruisers or tanks are formidable and well-constructed, but they'll be no match for battle-harden Colonial men and women with landcruisers, troop carriers and anti-armor weapons of their own with many years of experience fighting a formidable enemy. Compared to that, your tactics are non-existent. You have no real armor to protect your males. You don't have military medical units to support the injured you will surely have. Your space ships will be blown out of the sky before they come anywhere near Home. If you attack the Colonials anywhere using your 'how to fight manuals from five thousand years ago," and here he sneered in distain, "you will waste all of your male's lives in a battle that they cannot win."

Every Lizardian with the exception of Nignxe who appeared thoughtful that heard the Colonel's conclusion began hissing in anger.

_**Home system: Warstar Poseidon **_

"DRADIS contact! Unknown ship thirty million kilometers out. It tripped outer sensors sixteen and seventeen."

Westergyne immediately moved towards the main DRADIS section of the Command center. The tension in C&C rose as everyone assumed the worst.

The Apellai were coming.

"Set the fleet to Condition One. Warm the defense systems, every one of them! Get our fighters into the air. Do no fire unless fired upon," the Admiral ordered. I want a confirmed ID. Who's closest to the contact?"

"The _Tiryns_ and the _Galactica_, sir. The _Hade's Arrow _and _Severus_ can assist in three minutes."

"I want them there supporting the _Galactica_ and _Tiryns_ as soon as possible. Get both of them on the horn, now!"

The Apellai are coming? Maybe or maybe its someone else.

Merry Christmas, everyone!


End file.
